Grandma's on the Go

Darrell and More

2010-02-07T15:28:00.005-06:00

Darrell is doing a little better. He pulled out the ventilator tube and is only using a low percentage of oxygen now.
Darrell is still being fed by a "g" tube and intravenoiusly, so sad for a yougster who loves to eat.
He was moved last week from ICU to a rehab unit to work with physical, occupational and speach therapists. I know when he's feeling better because he's beginning to kick! His way of communicating is like a toddler throwing tantrums.
We pray that he will be able to return to his group home soon.

My computer is still in the shop, so this week I have no pictures.
Continue to pray for Darrell's recovery.
Thanks.

Sactity of Human Life

2010-01-19T08:41:00.004-06:00

My adopted son, Darrell, was shaken as an infant leaving him profoundly retarded and blind. He is totally dependant on loving and caring persons. Inspite of his difficulties, Darrell has had a profoundly positive impact on our family.

Why, I prayed, did a loving God allow child abuse to devistate the life of a normal baby? What value does his life have?

I feel that God's purpose for Darrell's life is that his story be told for the education of others. A recent study has shown that more than 1,300 infants are brain injured each year by being shaken. Shaking is most often the results of a parent's frustration over excessive crying. By teaching parents skills to deal with the crying, shaking may be prevented.

I recently learned of the term PURPLE crying. Unpredictable crying used to be called COLIC but that term indicated illness. PURPLE crying is a stage of infant development.

P peak of crying begins at two months and continue to three-four months

U unexpected crying for no explainable reason

R infant resists soothing

P pain shows in the face even if there is no pain

L long lasting, crying may continue for several hours

E evening crying, late afternoon

I wrote Darrell's story from medical and children's protective service records. He was shaken as the result of his incessant crying.

I am making a copy of Adopting Darrell free of charge to any one or organization who will use it to educate. Send an email or reply as a comment.

For additonal information see

National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome

Purple Program

2010-01-19T08:40:00.001-06:00

Senior Scouters show support

2010-01-10T14:56:00.005-06:00

One cold rainy afternoon at Camp Urland, I led the Scouts in a scavenger hunt. My job was to pass out the list of things to find and to check the "finds" off as they brought them in to me.
I didn't make up the list, so imagine my apprehension when one of the items said to name the oldest staff member.
One of the boys came up to me very cautiously and asked,"Ma'am, I don't mean to be rude, but are you the oldest person on staff?"
Not admitting anything, I told him my birthday and sent him on his way.

Walter is a Scouter, (an adult leader) with many years of experience teaching rifle and shot gun shooting, and wood carving. He admitted to being "about 65" and had been Scouting since he was in Cub Scouts. He dropped out before making "Eagle" but has since given many years to Scouting.

Marvin was our oldest Scouter on Staff. Marvin is 82 years young and has worked in camp kitchens for more than 40 years. The cold and rain sent Marvin home early, so he was not in the "Ol' Geezer" competition.

Darlene was proud of her premature gray hair. She camped with her son and their troop on the hill, in the rain and cold. She was not in the Oldest staff competition although she's used to being so classified.
This is Susan, only 47, she didn't gualify eiether, but she is to be commended for assisting her son's troop and camping. These two ladies highly recommended Scouting for adults as a way to learn new skills and to be active in lives of their boys.

So who was the oldest Scouter on Staff?

You guessed. ME!

I am proud to be able to (try to) keep up with these youngsters. I continued to learn and enjoy the challenges.

Scouting celebrates 100 years of tradition and adventure this year. More than ever our boys need an awarness of the outdoors, opportunities to learn new skills, and the values of the Scout Promise and Scout Oath.

Let's get out children away from TV and the computer and into Nature.

Pray for me as we plan and prepare for rock climbing at Enchanted Rock.

BSA Winter Camp

2010-01-03T14:50:00.017-06:00

Winter Camp at Boy Scout Camp Urland, near Woodville, TX., is where fun was happening. Ryan and Kyle, my grandsons, represented their troop and joined others to pitch tents at Armadillo Run. I was on staff as the art and basketry teacher. I opted to sleep in a bunk house with three other women and let the boys have the tents.

Our first night was beautiful, clear and very cold. The perfect weather for an all-camp campfire. Approximately 130 boys and 50 adult staff participated in the 6 day camp.

Each morning we started the day with a flag raising ceremony before breakfast. Then the boys hiked to their respective merit badge activities.

My first period art class suffered with frozen fingers as they tried new art materials: carpenter's pencils, burned wood (charcoal) and drawing with twigs and tempra paint ink. Later they painted with water colors.

The basketry class sounded easy, but the boys soon found out that reed soaked in freezing water was difficult to work with. Later we had to move indoors with warm water.

Sunday, chapel services were held in this open air chapel beside the lake. Many boys arrived late due to the high winds and low temperature. Early mornings the temp was in the upper twenties.

The dining hall was a favorite place, three times a day. Boys set and bussed the tables. Our cooks were from a Venturing troop from Dayton, TX and included Dawn, and her two daughters, Sarah and Rachel, who have been giving up their vacation for four years. Head cook Tony May and his son Anthony were assisted by Scout volunteers.

Scouts emphasize safty first. One of the classes was First Aid and CPR.A popular activity was shot gun shooting.

Riflery is another activity enjoyed by the boys.
To liven things up, someone thought up a frozen t-shirt contest. Yes the t-shirts had been soaked and were frozen solid in the kitchen freezer.

Archery is another fun activity. Many other merit badge classes were offered but since I was teaching i couldn't take pics of them all.

In spite of the cold mist, fog and rain we ended each day with flag lowereing and taps.

Following tradition, the last day of camp troops presented a duct tape sculpture for competition. This group duct taped a scout to a back board and carried him into the dinning hall. Their entry didn't win.

The winning entry was this duct tape Christmas tree with presents beneath and tiny stockings on the tree. It even had a string of tiny blinking light. It was made by the troops in Armadillo Run.

Congratulations Ryan and Kyle and all the others. Everyone had fun and learned many new skills. Trying to keep up with the boys was a challenge but the participation was worth giving up a warm bed.

Giving

2009-12-22T07:54:00.013-06:00

This week boy Scout Troop 221 in Beaumont has been in the Christmas Spirit and Celebrating by Giving back to the community. December 14, the boys loaded up over 200 donated books that they had collected with the Beaumont Association of Retired Teacher.Our first stop was to unload boxes of books for Family Services shelter in Beaumont. We had discussed the residents' need for confidentiality, so did not meet any of the children living in the shelter. However one of the boys said that two kids from his school got off his school bus here.
What a great opportunity for a discussion on being thankful.

The Scouts presented the books to the shelter manager who will give them to children for Christmas.

Leaving Family Services, the Scouts went to Boys' Haven with more books, hamburgers and drinks for an impromto party.

Initial shyness was soon forgotten as the two groups of boys ate and played silly games.

These older boys were delighted to receive age appropriate young adult books. One young man carried an arm load to his room, promising to share as soon as he'd finished reading each one.

Friday, December 18, the Scouts put on plastic aprons, rubber gloves and big smiles to help at the 19th Annual Feast of Sharing Holiday Dinner, held at Ford Park.

Our volunteer assignment was to bus tables and help with clean up. 4,000 meals had been served from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. The hall was decorated with balloons and Christmas greenery. Inflatable bouncy things and games entertained the children. Many of the dinner guests had ridden city buses from downtown.

The boys made the messy work of bagging trash into fun as they tried to pull packed plastic bags from the trash cans.

Even the heavy labor of taking down tables and stacking chairs gave the Scouts an opportunity for fun.

Thanks to HEB's spirit of sharing the season with the community, our boys were able to share in giving.

Christmas is the Season and Jesus is the Reason, for God gave His Son to save us from sin.

Let us all remeber to give back.

A time of sharing

2009-12-11T11:14:00.006-06:00

The Beaumont Association of Retired Teachers and Boy Scout Troup 221 collected over 200 children's books to be donated to needy children during the Christmas season.

These are just a few of the books collected by the teachers.

In addition to a large box of books, the Women's Missionary Union of West End Baptist Church, Beaumont, collected much needed cleaning supplies for Shepherd's Inn.

Christian Life Crisis Intervention churches of the Golden Triangle and other churches provide services and temporary housing for families who are visiting inmates in the prison system. All the services are free, depending on donations from churches, individuals, and guests. Many families travel from out of state to visit their loved ones.

Tabitha, a homeschooler, joined the women to help carry books and supplies to the center.
Some of the women who helped take supplies to Shepherd's Inn are helping the residential manager sort books and arrange children's toys.

During this Christmas Season let us remember that
God sent us a Savior.

If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been tehnology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
Bur our greatest need was forgiveness,
SO GOD SENT US A SAVIOR

(author unknown)

Volunteer at the prison

2009-12-04T15:27:00.008-06:00

This is as close as I ever want to get to a prison. The sky was clear and cold, Thurdsay, Ded. 3. I was on the shadowed side of the razor wire. Unfortunately the wire doesn't sparkle in the photo as it did in the sun. that morning. Fortunately, I don't have to look at it 24/7.

About 50 volunteers worked Wednesday night at the grills and Thursday to provide free meals for the employees and staff of the state prison units between Beaumont and Port Author.

This ministry of love was in conjunction with Bill Glass, an NFL football player-turned-evengelist, and his Champions for Life Ministry.

Rodney Barnett, an evangelist with Urban Harvest Ministries, is one of the event coordinatior. He and his volunteers decided to repay the community by providing the free meals, over 5,600 boxed lunches, to the prison guards and employees. While Bill Glass and his team spoke to groups of prisoners.

These three grills and several others were kept smoking all night and day by volunteers, preparing the endless trays of giant hotdogs.

We organized styrofoam camshells and filled them with hot dogs, buns, potato salad and ranch beans.

Two meals were then stacked and bagged with eating utinsels and condiments. The first shift of employees, who got off work at 5 a.m., received their meals as they drove toward the gates.

Others received their meals as they left at the end of their shifts through out the day.

Where do you put 5,600 "to-go" boxes? On top of one another, three bags high. The weather was very cool, even out of the wind in the tent. but soon busy volunteers began to shed jackets as they warmed up to the job.

It isn't often that I photograph a celeb.

The man with the camera is Ken Fountain a reported with the Beaumont Enterprise.

Ken wrote a nice article that was featured in the paper on Friday.

Thank you Ken and Enterprise.

This volunteer oportunity was a new experience for me. Volunteering makes a difference.

Being Thankful

2009-11-27T15:10:00.002-06:00

I found a short article in yesterday's paper quoting an unknown author. I'm not taking credit for the ideas, but adapting for myself.

I'm thankful that I don't have everything I want, for what would I look forward to?
I'm thankful I don't know everything. I can learn.
I'm thankful for my limitations, because they give me opportunities for improvement.
I'm thankful for difficult times because they help me grow.
I'm thankful for my mistakes, they teach me valuable lessons.
I'm thankful when I'm tired. Hopefully I've made a difference.

I'm most thankful for family and friends, they keep me humble.

inukshuk

2009-11-21T09:06:00.003-06:00

Confession. I didn't double check the spelling of this fascinating rock sculpture. When reading You are Here, I discovered my mistake. Who knows how the Inuit culture, native to the extreme Northwest, would have spelled it if they had a written language.
These stone sculptures were built to resemble humans and were usually placed on high ground with their arms pointing toward shelter.
Some strings of Inukshuks were built so that peering through a hole in one would lead to the sighting of another.
Sometimes they were used as icons to represent departed family members.
They may have even acted as a kind of scarecrow to influence the movement of caribou herds.
In addition to navigation aids, they go beyond being simple landmarks as they are imbedded in story telling.

When you see this symbol for the winter Olympics. You will be well informed and fascinated as I am.

Scouts and Sutherlands

2009-11-15T20:13:00.008-06:00

THANK YOU SUTHERLANDS!

Saturday, Nov. 14, was a busy day for Boy Scout Troop 221 and Webelo Pack 221.
Sutherlands Lumber Yard and Hardware Store on College in Beaumont hosted a tremendous Fund Raiser for the the boys. Sutherlands provided hotdogs, drinks for the boys to sell, and balloons and American flags to give away.

The boys worked in three to four hour shifts, with Bryan working eight hours. At 8:30 pm he was still going strong. I was not at the sale for the entire 13 hour sale so my photos are limited.

They are having fun, feeding the masses and earned money for camping.

The last photo is an Inookshook. The rock construction is native to Canada and was a means for Natives to communicate directions. I made this one from Alaskan rocks (and super glue).

Watch for Inookshook. It is the symbol for the Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Don't you wish you could go? I do.

signings and such

2009-11-07T18:21:00.008-06:00

I have a new book in the works. "Loon's Necklace" is a children's story that I illustrated. The manuscript is with Publication Consultants in Anchorage. When I have a publication date, I'll post it.

The pictures below are two that are being considered for the back cover of "Loon's Necklace". I'm so glad I didn't try to read to more than two wiggly girls. This is my youngest granddaughter, Gianna, and her best friend, Bianca. We call them Gigi and Bebe.

Laurie Kolp arranged for us to be interviewed on Fox 4, KBTV, Friday morning. Quite an experience and something I'd like to do again. The staff was so easy to work with.

Friday night Laurie and her kids joined me with a booth at First Friday in Groves. The night was cool and pleasant. We each sold a few books.

Saturday we joined another autthor at Barnes and Nobles for a book signing.

It is time to start shopping for Christmas. Books are the perfect gift.

No rest and prayer request

2009-10-25T15:23:00.011-05:00

Last night was the final night of the Golden Triangle Writer's Conference held at the Elegante Hotel in Beaumont. My friend Debra Harris Johnson, center, won First Place with her short story, First in Non-fiction, and First with the Writing Jar. Way to go girl!
With us is teacher, Jessica Ferguson

I presented two seminars, The Writing Process, and Journaling and Memoirs. Both were well received. Attending authors held a signing party with our books available to the public.

I will be signing my new book, A Venture in Faith, Texas to Alaska, at Barnes and Noble on Dowlen, Nov. 7, 2009, from 1-3 PM. Hope to see all of you.

On Sunday, Oct. 18, I had an informational table at the Golden Triange Baptist Association Missions Fair, held at First Baptist Church, Nederland. Many visitors have an interest in Alaska.

Author and friend, Laurie Kolp, has a story in a newly released anthology, Christmas Miracles. Here Laurie is holding her book at Barnes and Noble. She will be joining me signing on Nov. 7.

Laurie wrote a glowing interview with me on her blog, conversationswithacardinal.blogspot.com. Thank you, Laurie!

What I get myself into. I was Assistant Scout Master with Chris's troop in Houston. Now I'm home and available to "volunteer" to sleep on the hard ground, in a tent, and eat kid friendly, high colestrol, calorie laden camp cooking. I joined my boys, Ryan and Kyle and several other Scouts, to spend the week-end at a camporee at Camp Urland. The weather was chilly, the sky ultramarine blue, and the exercise welcome.

Don't the boys look like they are having fun?

Yes, that's a lizard earring on Jimmy.

Darrell, my adopted son is now 27 years old. He is blind and profoundly retarded due to child abuse, shaken baby syndrome.

Darrell has had a series of grande mal seisures. He aspirated fluid and a lung collapsed. He is also fighting an infection. He now struggles with a trach and ventelator.

Darrell spent a couple of weeks in the hospital and is now in a long-term acute treatment facility where he is being weaned off the ventlator and receiving therapy. His very limited mental ability makes all this very confusing for him.

PLEASE PRAY FOR DARRELL'S RECOVERY.

Several years ago after receiving Darrell's medical and children's protective service records, I wrote his story.

I know that God's purpose for Darrell's life is that his story be told to help parents understand the devastation of shaken baby syndrome, how to handle the stress of parenting and to offer encouragement to families of special needs children and adults.

Photo Fans, Blogger's fixed!

2009-10-11T07:48:00.019-05:00

My youngest daughter, Cora, fixed blogger! So now I have a couple of weeks of catching up to do. On our last day at Camp Baldwin while we were preparing the waterlines for minus 50 degrees this winter, our young bull moose came to visit and eat the seeded yard. Because of their short necks they get on their knees. I think he's praying that hunters don't make moose-meat out of him.

Leaving Alaska, we drove the AlCan Highway through the Yukon, spending the night at Whitehorse Wal-mart, and then drove on to Watson Lake, famous for the sign post forest. Although this is my fourth trip to Alaska I had not added my sign to the 65,000 plus signs.

I hope I can find it again! It's above Sassie and directly behind the Martin's sign.

We left the AlCan and turned south on the Cassiar Highway, a narrow, mostly gravel road, much like the AlCan on my first trip in 2002. The fall colors, golds of aspen, birch and cottonwood, contrasted with the reds of ground plants and the black/green of the spruce. Magnificent.

We stopped at Jade City, British Columbia, (in the rain). This area of mountains produces the largest quantity of jade in the world. Jade is not only green, but white, pink and black, too.

The figure below is made of stacked raw jade rock. It is called an inookshook. The figures were made by the Canadian First Nation people as trail markers. You still see them today. The inookshook is the symbol of the winter Olympics which will be held in Vancouver.

Near Stewart, BC, we made a short trip back into southeast Alaska at Hyder, population 80, (unless residents have flown out for the winter). We drove an old gold mining road to see the Salmon Glacier, and fish creek. There were no bears at fish creek because the salmon had already run for the season. Last year a bear killed a camper in his tent.

Dale obligated the photographers by ducking under an overhang of a small glacier.

This is one of the many waterfalls exiting the high valley glaciers.

Proceeding south we left the Cassiar Highway for the Yellowhead Highway and continued through the Fraser Gorge. The scenic highway is cut along a canyon wall. Between the river and the highway, the light ribbon is one of two railway lines. Tracks on each side of the river proved for trains to travel in opposite directions.

In Bellingham, the Martins and I shared a farewell lunch and a (almost) tearful good-by as we wnnt our separate ways. They contined south to Seattle, while I turned east.

It's difficult to sift through pictures of Bellinghan, and Seattle, but I chose this one from the Honey Creek campground in Washington.

The cypress trees were so large that I couldn't reach even half way around the smaller ones. Ferns grew out of the tree trunks, with fronds three feet long. Fallen trees had new growth growing straight up out of the horizontal trunks.

Washington, Oregon and northern Idaho were harvesting apples, pears, apricots and other fruits. Vinyards surrounded the highway.

And then what a contrast. Salt Lake City. I drove onto Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake by crossing a causeway from Salt Lake City. The water level in the lake was very low due to summer evaporation. The salts and minerals thickened the water. The island itself is rugged and dry.

To reach the lake and walk in the extremely salty water, I passed through this picnic shelter and walked on the mineral encrusted sand that you see through it. At the horizon is a narrow tan line of dead vegetation, and then the shallow water. Quite a long hike in the brilliant hot sun.

Here are some of the antelope the island is named for. There are also free roaming herds of bison, and many migrating birds.

I was fascinated by the clarity of the sky and the colors of sunset.

The air was so clear that sounds carried for quite a distance.

Then on the visit Arches National Park.

Here is one of the many balanced rocks, left from volcanic extrusions.

Some of the formations look like groups of people.

There are many natural stone arches caused by wind and rain washing away softer rock.

Leaving Utah I drove through southern Colorado and into northern New Mexico.

This metal sculpture of Native Americans is at the visitor's center in Durango.

I've wanted to visit the Georgia O'Keefee museum in Santa Fe, since I visited Ghost Ranceh several years ago. In the city, I quickly learned that even with a GPS, it's impossible to drive a motor home through the narrow streets lined with adobe building.

I spent a wonderfully cool night at Glorieta conference center, and two night in Glen Rose for Camper's on Mission Texas rally, then on to HOT, HUMID Beaumont.

Hot and Humid

2009-10-07T10:34:00.003-05:00

Followers,
I'm terribly sorry but blogger won't accept my photos to upload.
Anyway. I got home safe and sound late Friday.
Saturday was spent cleaning out the RV.
On Sunday I drove Cheri's truck to church and later we went to buy groceries. A few minutes after unloading the truck and while we were putting things a way, a man banged on the front door yelling "Your truck's on fire!"
Sure enough Cheri's truck, that she'd just paid off, was in flames. 911, police and a fire truck joined neighbors with water hoses. It was a total loss.
THANK GOD NO ONE WAS IN IT!

This weekend I'll try to get someone to help me load pic on bloger, until then,
Carol

On the Road Again - Texas Bound

2009-09-29T09:21:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note since it's been almost two weeks since i have been able to get on the internet.
Last night iIstayed at the Glorieta Baptist Conference Center in New Mexico. I'm now in their parking lot taking advantage of emails.
I'll send lots of photos of Canada and the North west as soon as I can.
Until then!!!! Texas or Bust.

Denali National Park

2009-09-15T21:17:00.020-05:00

We left Wasilla on Tuesday after picking up our entries in the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. Tuesday night we parked near the new home of our long time friends, Anna and Mickey. Wed. morning we were on the Parks Highway heading north for a much too brief visit at Denali National Park.
The aspens, birch and cottonwoods were a blaze of gold in the bright sun, a contrast to the dark green of the spruce.Dale spotted a road-killed porcupine. We stopped so he could pull the quills. Lynne and I have been making earrings from the quills.

Denali National Park's 6 million acres are accessible by only one road, primitive, largely unpaved, winding through the wilderness.

After a brief stop at the Wilderness Access Center to arrange for camping at the Savage River Campground, and for a bus tour to Eileson Visitor's Center, we proceeded to travel slowly through the taiga and forest.

Chores never end. I cooked dinner for us in my rig.

The sky was clear and temperature quite chilly. We took a walk around the large isolated campground enjoying the solitude and quiet.

Ducking under a large white spruce, I discovered the largest burl I'd ever seen. Caused by a virus that attacks the tree, the tree compensates by growing this huge woody appendage.

A spectacular sunset was an indication of a beautiful tomorrow.

Early the following morning we doned coats, gloves and carried packs of snacks and lunch to the bus stop. Drivers are not permitted to drive personal vehicles past the Savage River Bridge unless they have a permit for the Teklinika Campground or a hiking permit. By restricting visitors to big green buses, more tourists can enjoy the park with a minimum of intrusion on the wilderness.

Our bus must have originated in Japan! Most of the tourists were speaking languages unfamiliar to me.

This picture taken at one of the overlook stops shows several of the Japanese wearing masks. were they afraid of Swine flu? the cold brisk air made that threat unlikely.

Our first glimps of Mt McKinley, also know by the Native name Denali, was from the highway as we traveled along. Only 35% of visitors are privileged to view the mountain as it is ususally shrouded in clouds and mist.
We were fortunate to be able to vies and photograph the mountain from several stops.
The Sanctuary River and the Savage River are examples of braided rivers. the wide bed criss crossed by ever changing flow causes the rivers to be unstable and dangerous.

Wild life hunting is fun for every one. some more serious photographers than others.
Dall rams on the cliffs of Primrose Ridge.

scene of our bus and another from an over look. See the herd ofhomo sapiens!

Mt McKinley from the Eilerson Visitors Center.

Bald Eagles are rare in Denali because they prefer fish and their ususal habitat is near the coast. Golden Eagles are frequent to Denali.
This grizzly is crossing a ridge on the tundra. We saw other bears but they didn't photograph well.This red fox ran along the tundra and then in front of the stopped bus. It ignored the tourists hanging out the windows to take its picture.

Look carefully at the lowe left corner of the picture to find another bus traveling far below us. We would soon follow down that winding road.

This is only a brief overview of the majestic Denali NP. For more pictures see me when I arrive home.

We are now back at Camp Baldwin preparing camp for winter by hiding anything a rodent might find edible or nesting material, draining water lines, and preparing for minus 50 degree winter weather. This morning the temperature was 28 degrees with a frost.

Week of Aug 30-Sept 6

2009-09-08T12:42:00.021-05:00

What a week this has been. Monday the Martin's rig was in the shop. while it was being worked on I spent several hours at the Nataive Heritage Center. These two young folks are demonstrating some of the events of the Eskimo Olympics. The girl will kick up, balancing on her left hand and kick the ball. The record by a male is eight feet, meaning that his body is vertical and hand off the floor, sorta an upside high jump.Here the young lady is perparing to kick the suspended ball with her left foot while holding her right foot and balancing on her left hand. Confused? They were so fast that I couldn't get good pictures. The games are to increase their strength and endurance.

The strangest was the ear pull, designed to increase tolerance to pain. A loop of rawhide is placed around the opponants opposite ears while they are sitting. Then both bull untill one lets the rope pull off. Like when your mom pulled on you ear to get you to behave, but much more painful.

These women are dressed in Kuspuks and wearing mukluk boots. They use dance fans of feathers to accent the mothions of thier dances. The drumers keep rhythum on flat seal skin drums while they chant. The map on the wall depicts the five major cultures in Alaska.

Alaska's Native people are divided into eleven distinct cultures with twenty-one different language.

This young man shows one of the Tlingit/Haida drums with the black, red and teal stylized designs. He waid that the teal color is from crushed copper rock with fish slime as a binder.

The designs are historic. He explained that American's distroyed maost of their masks, but some were taken to Russia and France.

This is a replica of a Tlingit/Haida community house. The door is an oval hole in a huge log.

This replica of an Alutic common house is similiar to to the homes of the Yupik, and Inupik cultures. Constructed partially underground the homes were well insulated.

The log house and food cache are representative of the Athabascan culture, and of settlers. Today many residents still live in log cabins and use caches to keep food from the bears. Wealthy Alaskan build wonderfully insulated "Log cabins" with triple paned panaramic windows.

Lynne joined me to travel down the Kenai to the Alaska Wildlife conservation Center. Here injured or orphaned animals are treated to be released.

I have too many animal pictures already but was impressed with this bull caribou.
One more moose picture. This huge bull will soon be in rut. His antlers are shedding the velvet. That yucky stuff hanging off his antlers is the velvet that he is rubbing off.

Dale's rig was repaired in record time. Bonnie and Charles joined us with their motor home for a quick trip down to Homer.

We camped overnight at Willowaw National Forest. Red Salmon were spawning in the shallow waters of the stream that ran through the campground. Later we stopped at the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers where combat fishing for salon takes place when they are running.

The weather was cold and damp.

From the windows of the rigs we had view of glaciers and waterfalls. We were tempted to climb but the temperature and dampness and our mature bodies restricted us to walks around the almost deserted campground.

We arrived in Homer. Despite the could cover we enjoyed the distand mountains and glaciers. If the day had been clear, we would have been able to see Mt. Redoubt across Cook Inlet. It is still smoking but not erupting.

Passing through the small fishing and arts/crafts town, we drove onto the Homer Spit which divides the Kachemak Bay.

A crazy Alaskan blew up the front edge of his parasail and let the wind pull him on a surf board out into the bay.

Luckily he was wearing a wet suit.

Early the following morning I walked Sassie along the beach and was awed by this magnificent sunrise.

Near the end of the spit, Dale spotted this eagle working to repair it's nest.
Dale's binoculars let him identify sea otters on two floating mats of kelp. This guy was by himself. His head is to the left. Those are his feet to the right.

We hated to leave Homer without seeing the glaciers and volcanic mountains with clear skys. Of course as wwe returned to Anchorage, the skys cleared and the sunshone brilliantly.

Later this week we again helped Sharon and Henry in Wasilla prepare for winter by getting his snow blower attached to a small tractor and putting things under cover.

On Saturday, we returned to Anchorage for a trememdus stage production of the "Lion King". You have to see it to beleave it. Of course no photos were allowed.

Today we leave to return to Delta and winterize. Yes winter is coming. It was 41 the other morning.

Aug 22-30

2009-09-04T15:23:00.015-05:00

This is Henry. He has a terminal brain tumor. We've been helping with major chores at their home in Wasilla. Sunday, his daughters surprised him (and us) at church with the mohawk wig. He wore it during the service and to his last chemo treatment on Monday. Who says Christians don't have fun?

Monday the Martins followed me to Anchorage to check out the generator on my rig. While in town we visited the Anchorage Art and History museum. The quilt show is an example of the excellent creative crafts done by Natives.

This 3-4 story totum is in the original entrance to the renevated musuem.

We spent Tuesday with mutual friends in Anchorage. Micky workes two weeks on and two weeks off on the North Slope. We met him at the airport as a surprise.

I took my rig back to the generator repair shop and waited for a new carborator to be sent from the Lower 48. After it was installed on Thursday I raced back to Palmer to check out our entries in the State Fair.

What a surprise! My loon wal hanging that had received a red ribbon in Delta, now had a blue and a purple "Best in Category" ribbon!

The birch bark loon hanging also received blue and purple ribbons. The beaded loon received a red.

Lynne's quilt and basket received ribbons and one of her baskets received a blue and purple.

A Tlingit painted totum pole greated us at the fair.

We went to gape at the huge vegetables grown here in the Mat-Su valley.

There were no world records this year, but I will list world records.

Cabbarge- 105 pounds. Lots of slaw!
World record watermellon weighed 168 pounds. This one was over 100 pounds.

World record pumpkin weighed 1,019 pounds!! These weighed around 800 pounds each. Thanksgiving pie for a crowd.

I have now idea how large this dalia was. Compared to Lynne's hand, what do you think! Flowers are abundant and glorious.

We joined the crowd to enjoy an equestian even. Look closely at the girl hanging by her foot on the side of the horse below.

I rushed back to Anchorage after a quick visit to the fair to speak to the Women on Mission group at first Baptist Church. (No pictures)

On Friday I held a book signing at the BX on Elemdorf Air Force Base. This was my second signing here.

Saturday I held another signing. This time at Pandemonium in Wasilla.

I've enjoyed using their wifi cafe and hope to be able to catch up!

On the road

2009-08-29T14:10:00.016-05:00

The week of Aug 15 - 22, was one of research for writing (That's an excuse to explore). Early Monday morning I visited the Anchorage botanical gardens. Did you know that a bale of hay could be carved out to hold a small garden of mixed veggies?A sign warned that black bears had been seen around the herb garden which is fenced in with lattice work. I joined a couple traveling from Vancouver to hike to the herb gardens. While there a wedding party arrived and held a small wedding amound the flowering plants.

From the gardens I drove to the Anchorage Zoo which has been expanded since I visited in 2002. Most of the animals are rescues that cannot be released into the wild. Recently their prized elephant was sent to a warmer climate.

One of the most unusual animals is the musk ox. It is indiginous to Alaska but was wiped out by hunters years ago and has been reintroduced into the wild (and on farms). The under coat of the musk ox is the softest, finesst and warmest wool imaginable. Called quivet, the wool is gathered and given to Native coops where it is knit or crocheted into scarves, hats and smokerings.

As a cub this polar bear had a black bear cub for a playmate. As they reached age four they had to be separated.

This is as close as I want to get to a grizzly!

Look closly to the right side of the photo for another strange "animal" at the zoo.

On Tuesday I spoke to a group of ladies (WOM) at First Baptist Church in Palmer. I try to encourage everyone to write their own story as a journal or in memiors.

Lynne caught me doing house keeping duty. The water tanks have to be emptied!
This is the visitor's center in Wasilla, where we have been staying. Lynne is holding a bear carved with a chain saw by a friend of hers.

We made a side trip to Hatcher Pass, over 3,000 feet into the Talkeetna Mountains. This high valley above the tree line, was matted with the fireweed that had gone to cotton. Their leaves were a brilliant red.

Para gliders favor these high bluffs for the thermals that carry them into the sky.

I am sitting by the edge of Summit Lake, found high in Hatcher Pass. The water is near freezing.

The Susitna River racing down from Hatcher Pass sent spray of icy water as it toumbled over boulders.

On our way back to Wasilla from Hatcher Pass we stopped for chowder at a small cafe run by woman who is also a chain saw carver. This sunflower is one of her works.

Since traveling south from Delta Junction and the library, I've had a problem finding wifi andbeing able to send, so until next computer cafe.....

I'll think of you in Texas. Temp was 46 degrees this morning.

Week of August 9-15, 2009

2009-08-18T14:07:00.013-05:00

This week has been cooler and with some rain. We added layers of leaves, dog hair donated by Sassie and Lady Jane, and bags of rabbit fertilizer donated by friends from church. They even brought the bags of droppings to us. Later we added a bale of hay and covered the garden to "cook"

Lynne took pictures to document that I really do clean the bath houses. We do this on a regular basis, between camps and will do a final cleaning before closing camp for the winter.

After all that work we took several children to the local "Dairy Queen" for ice cream. Alaska has the highest rate of ice cream consumption per capita of all the states. Why's that?

Dale and Levi are still working on the side of the church. Almost done!

Lynne and I attacked the gravel driveway to dig a trench for an electric cable.

Dale, with the help of Lady Jane, layed the cable that we then covered up.

Early Wednesday morning with a clear cloudless sky, I traveled the almost 400 miles from Delta Junction to Wasilla, north of Anchorage. Lynne and Dale will be following next week when the church is completed.In Anchorage I held three book signings, but without Lynne to take pictures, I don't have any to post. The first signing was in the rain under a pavillion at the Golden Nugget RV park. There were several other authors there.

On Friday I signed at the BX on Elmendorf Air Force Base, and on Saturday at Borders in Anchorage.

Saturday morning early, I visited the Anchorage weekend market. Hundreds of venders erect tents on a parking lot that was built after the 1965 earthquake lowered the street and buildings four feet.

On Sunday I attended services at this church. It was holding services on the the Laverne Griffin Youth Camp grounds when I first attended in 2002.

I'm sending this from the McDonalds parking lot in Wasilla. This mornings temp was 45 with sun. It is now 86! Where is winter?

Lasagna Gardening and more

2009-08-10T17:15:00.020-05:00

Sunday, Aug 2, we had our first freeze, 32 degrees. but by mid week the temperature was back in the upper 70s. This week Camp Baldwin hosted pastors and their families. Our jobs were to cook the meals and continue with our regular clean up routines.

On Wed. we invited the wives of the pastors to join us at a demonstration of lasagna gardening presented by the county ag agent.

We met with several other ladies in the garden area in frony of the Sullivan Roadhouse, an historical building. The first layer of the garden was a thick layer of newspapers to kill any weeds. This is our "noodles" and was well watered ("sauced").

Next we added several wheel barrows full of dry grass clippings, "cheese". The next layers of "meat" were buckets of chicken contibutions, old hay, buckets of wood ash and composted vegetation and more grass clippings.

All the layers of "fillings" were well "sauced" with water. Notice the thick haze in the background. The smoke from the wildfires in the Fairbanks area.

When the "lasagana" layers were as thick as the material we had on hand (about 18 inches), we covered the bed with transparent plastic and will let it "cook" for at least 6 weeks to compost. The plastic will be removed for winter. The ag agent said that in the spring the bed will be ready to plant.

To our disappointment we notice that the seed pods on the lower flower stalks of the fireweed were "going to cotton". The seed pods were bursting open releasing soft dandylion-like seeds. The "cotton" predicts that summer is over and winter should arrive within six weeks. Snow?

Below Dale is preparing two pink salmon for the grill. Cleaned, the salmon each weighed about five pounds. All those salmon steaks came from two fish. Oh so yummy!
While we women worked on the camp, Dale and Levi continue to
make repairs to First Baptist Church.

On Friday I visited the Museum of the North located on the campus of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. This ultra modern building was built since I visited in 2002The large natural history section of the museum is guarded by a grizzly measuring eight feet and nine inches. Wouldn't want to meet him in the forest.

In addition to mounts of native animals and birds the museum has the preserved, petrified body of "Blue Babe" a step bison found several years ago during placer mining in an area north of Fairbanks.

I spend hours exploring the art and crafts representative of the many language groups of Native Alaskans. This Chilkat blanket woven of goat wool and cedar bark is from the Tlingit in the Southeast.

I watched a film on the Alaskan winter which told how people and critters survive the bitter cold. Minus 50 degrees is not uncommmon in Fairbanks.

Another film explained how the Aurora Borealias are created in the heavens. I saw white Northern Lights several years ago. I hope this year to see some of the magnificent colors of red, magenta and green.

The museum has several galleries of contemporary art. This marble polar bear intrigued me. Many paintings by masters and contemporary painters join modern craftsmen who are recreating baskets, carvings and other crafts in the traditional manner as well as innovative designs.
What's my blog without a moose? This young female has made herself at home on our newly planted playground, disregarding the keep-out tape.

We became so interested in the lasagna gardening that Dale drug four huge rail road ties to a sunny spot and made us a raised bed. We started with a layer of flattened carboard boxes, added grass clippings, bark shavings, peat moss from under the spruce and birch trees, ash from the campfire and even dog hair. Friends from church donated a couple of huge trashbags of rabbit manure.

We've added shredded newspaper and loess, the glacial silt that looks like sand but feels like talcum powder, and kitchen vegetable scraps. Oh yes, we watered every layer. A heavy rain helped. Now we have to cover it with plastic for a couple of weeks and it will be ready for spring planting. Can't wait.

A young gyrfalcon posed for pictures outside the dining hall windows one evening. Lynne got quite close to it before it flew.

In our spare time, Lynne and I tried making earrings from procupine quills and beads.

Sunday after church we ate at Rika Roadhouse. This time I was prepared with my camera to capture the illusive bison sipping a coke.

This comming week we will give the bathhouses, cabins and dinning hall a thorough cleaning.

I will be going to Anchorage this week for several scheduled booksignings. I have no idea when or where I'll be able to continue to blog, but until then.....

God Bless.

Time off!

2009-08-03T15:39:00.021-05:00

Ok I goofed. some how I added this picture of my booth at the fair at the beginning instead of the end and then doubled it instead of deleting it. Oh well, I'm still learning.
Enjoy the blog!

Although we had no youth campers this week, our work never ended. Dale and Levi are rebuilding the back side of First Baptist Church, Delta, because the high winds have driven so much sand against the original logs that the building is deteriorating. The winds have been extremely strong, up to 60 mph, almost every day for the past month. Smoke from wildfires often stings our eyes.While on our weekly excursion to the library to send emails, we saw this huge RV. It is German made and carries 26 German tourists with places to sleep in the tiny cell like beds by the windodws.

Last Saturday the three of us picked blueberries in a burned out area. Here we are sorting and washing the berries.

We made batches of blueberry and blueberry/rhubarb jam.

If you are are on my "friends" list I'll share blueberry jam, fireweed jelly, raspberry vinegarett or fireweed honey with you!

We made friends with the agriculture agent who gave us some rhubarb root stock for the camp.In addition to our weekly (sometimes daily) visits of the young male moose, we've been blessed to see a great grey owl. (The picture is a little fuzzy). There is a nest of young gyrfalcons who are now flying around the camp, and we've seen hawk owls.

The Deltana Fair is a social event for Delta. Held Friday with high winds, Saturday with a low of 32 degrees, and Sunday with sun and a high of 80., we had fun with a book signing booth.

Here are two little boys in a mini-tractor pull.

I'd never witnessed a tractor pull before. The Powderpuff pull with lady drivers was a hoot.

In our "off" time, Lynne and I completed some crafts projects and entered the fair.

All of our enteries won a ribbon. My loon wall hanging, made from birchbark, lichens and dried flowers, won a blue ribbon and championship ribbon.

This beaded loon wall hanging won a blue.

The large loon quilted wall hanging won a red ribbon. The quilt competition inspired many excellent entries.

My little birch bark bird house earned a blue ribbon.

Lynne created a t-shirt quilt using t-shirts from her many missions trips surrounded with Alaska themed fabric. She won a blue ribbon for her first quilt.

Lynne's two beautiful birch bark baskets both won blue ribbons and championship ribbons. Way to go girl!

Saturday, we watched in awe as a seven year old Native girl performed with hoops. Then her grandfather, a 65 year old Indian from Seattle danced with the hoops, after he had been dancing for nearly an hour. The anouncer said that Indian dancing was Native arobics. The man was in excellent physical condition and quite agile.

These Russian ladies, and the many locals made for a colorful parade of fair goers. People watching is such a fun activity at a fair.

Back to work. We have campers arriving this afternoon.

High school camp

2009-07-28T16:41:00.017-05:00

This week the camp hosted high schoolers. Biggers eaters, rambunctious and energetic, they played hard and enjoyed our cooking.

The group is playing a game called "trash can". If a person lets go of his neighbor's hands or is slung (tripped or caroomed) into the trash can, he/she is out.

In order to keep the kids comping back to camp, Mark was constantly thinking up new activities.
He encouraged the boys and girls to build a paintball fort of plywood, old lumber and tarps.

Lynne caught me on a ladder, hugging a tree in a high wind while trying to take pictures of the kids playing paintball.

High schoolers welcomed an improved, Alaskan waterslide, even though the temp hovered in the upper 60s and the wind chill was way lower.

A missionary to East Africa spoke to the group about her families life is Africa and their mission there.

Lynne and Dale have been collecting t-shirts on their missions trips. I was excited to help her cut out and arrange the shirts to make a quilt using an Alaskan themed fabric for the border.

We could only work in the dining hall after dinner, around 8 pm while the kids were out and about until all hours.

Sunset is now around midnight, with sun rise around 4 am. However the night is still more of a twilight. We are loosing about 6 minutes of daylight per day.
These girls are struggling to get up from an overnight in the tents. Their counslors said that they didn't stop talking until sometime after 3 am. No wonder they look bedraggled.

Thursday after an easy breakfast and fast clean up, Lynne and I drove to an overgrown trail where we picked ripe rasberries. No snakes in Alaska! but we had to watch our footing for there are thickets of thorny roses. Bears like rasberries.

We soaked the berries in vinegar to make vinegarette.

That afternoon we watched the boys build a fort in the woods. Dale explored the far side of this overgrown area for more rasberries. He quickly returned when he almost stepped in fresh bear scat!

The girls finished up crafts projects for the Christmas Boxes

Here Ellen displays 36 wrapped Christmas Child Boxes that she will soon ship overseas.
Friday afternoon, after the campers returned home, Lynne and I surprised the staff with jars of homemade fireweed jelly.

When we heard that blue berries were now ripening, we spent our Saturday off hunting the elusive berry.

With the three of us picking in the hot sun in a burned out area, we soon (several hours) had 11 cups of berries. Enough for a couple of batches of jelly.

Someone asked Dale where we had found the blue berries. When he told the location, he was admonished that :a true Alaskan never reveals his berry patch."

The wind has been gusting to 60 mph. We've had several birch and one spruce tree fall. There is still smoke in the air at times due to the forest fires near Fairbanks. This coming week, we are "off", no campers, so we will catch up on camp clean up while Dale and Levi do construction and repairs at First Baptist, Delta.

Junior High Camp

2009-07-22T15:49:00.018-05:00

On Monday when the Junior High school kids arrived it was a typical rainy, cool Alaskan afternoon. These girls are dancing in the rain.

When not in the kitchen, I sewed up a baker's dozen stuffed frogs to be included in the Christmas Boxes.

Jr Hi kids don't SLEEP! They think summer is a time to play 24/7 since winter is long and dark. Lynne caught me wearily frying sausage after a sleepless night, listening to the kids high jinks.

Here the kids are engaged in a rousing game of drench each other with buckets of water. Who cares if it's only 60 degrees.

Dale played with a new mechanical toy this week as he dozed the archery range, a road and then dug an Alaskan water slide pit.

The boys' line shows off the results of tie-dying pillow cases.
The Alaskan made water slide was a HIT! You can't see the chill bumps. They lined up again and again for the opportunity the slide and freeze.

Another favorite game is paint ball using cardboard cylinders as refuge.

The girls are proud of their tie-dye pillow cases, too.
The girls are having fun with crafts.

Friday, while the counselors played frizbe, this young moose munched his way around the cabins and behind our motor homes. Notice how close he is to my bike, which was parked right behind the rig. I'm hiding under the awning.

On Saturday, a group of Chinese from University Baptist Church in Fairbanks arrived for a weekend at camp. They didn't need out help in the kitchen so we made a road trip down the Richardson Highway to Paxton and then 30 miles west along the Denali Road.

The fireweed were in full bloom. In the far background is Black Rapids Glacier in the Alaska Range.

We stopped to photograph many varieties of flowers along both high ways. This Alaska cotton fascinated me with its brilliant white, fluffy heads blowing in the wind.

Lynne caught me taking pictures along the Delta River at the base of the Alaskan Range.

The Denali Road is paved for the first 25 miles and then becomes gravel for all but the final ten miles of its 160 mile stretch from Paxton to the National Park. Traveling along the gravel section we were fortunate to see a covy of ptarmigan, the state bird. These birds survive the winter by turning white. They were in their summer brown plumage.

Returning to camp around seven we discovered our junior moose browsing behind the rigs again, then he moseyed through the new pavillion as if he owned the place.

Sunday on our shopping trip to Fairbanks, we stopped to pick two five gallon buckets of fireweed stems. While riding along we then plucked off the blossoms to fill several quart bags for making fireweed jelly on Monday.

July 6-10 5 &6th graders

2009-07-15T15:07:00.017-05:00

Another week of excited campers, fifth and sixth graders from Fairbanks and locally. The boy in camouflage below is the only kid who stopped long enough for a picture. They play capture the flag and other hiding games in the forest at night after supper. It's still light all night long.

Dale dug this hole, now lined with plastic and filled with water, as the base of a water slide. Next week I'll have pictures of it in use. Kids of all ages love water no mater how cold the air is.

I helped these girls with their crafts.

This group of girls are creating journals to go into the Christmas Boxes and other journals to use as autograph books.

Ooops, I loaded this picture twice and can't figure out how to delete it.

Our counslers get into the fun. Here some of the girls are preparing to hide for the game of "find the counselor".

Party time!

Lynne and I found time to cut fireweed bloom stalks in preparation for making fireweed jelly. Back at camp we picked the blossoms from a packed five gallon bucket of stalks to make 16 cups of washed flowers.
After washing the flowers they were boiled and strained to release deep fushia colored juice. We added lemon juice and lots of sugar, boiled the sirup into jelly. Umm. I'm bringing some home to share.
The kids were shocked at dinner one night as they were randomly assigned unusual kitchen utinsels as eating impliments. They're having a great time and cleaned their plates of moose meat loaf, mashed potatoes, peas, hot yeast rolls and mud pie.
The last breakfast before returning home, these ladies would have prefered going back to bed, since they had stayed up until after 3 AM.

I have met some fascinating folks this summer. Manu and Phie from Austria were checking their email at the picnic table outside the library. They had begun a bicycle trip in Anchorage, had toured Denali, visited Fairbanks and were on their way through Tok and Canada to the Lower 48. Their plans are to travel through the US and South America to Terra del Fuego, a trip that will take them one and a half years. God Bless them and give them safty.

Friday we attended the wedding of Levi, the youth pastor of Delta's First Baptist Church, and Jessica of Fairbanks. Jessica's mother is Filipino and since there were quite a few Filipino guests the wedding was held in a pavillion at the Pioneer Park.

When told he could kiss the bride, Levi knelt down and kissed Jessica's foot! What a way to show his love.

As a resessional, the exuberant couple skipped down the aisle to "Hot diggity, dog diggity, oh what you do to me!"

Jessica and Levi had arranged for a Polynesian/Filipino dance troup to entertain us during the buffet reception.

Wonderful food, terrific dancers and a most blessed wedding, Alaskan style.

God Bless you both, Levi and Jessica.

Summer at last. Grades 3-4.

2009-07-08T15:37:00.015-05:00

Summer has arrived in central Alaska. Our morning temps have been in the lower 50s and the highs in mid 80s with little or no breeze. Sunday, July 5, fires burning east and southwest of Fairbanks caused heavy smoky haze.

These new campers, 3rd and 4th graders are checking out each other and some of the cool games on their first afternoon

I helped the girls with crafts projects. In addition to making things for themselves, the campers are creating gift items to go in shoesboxes for the Christmas Child Project, part of Samaritan's Purse, an organization that sends Christmas boxes to children in poverty around the world.
Can't have all play and no work. Campers take turns cleaning the dining hall after meals.

Dale has a new toy for a few days. With this excavator, he dug a huge hole in which to bury tree stumps pulled out and limbs removed for an area to be develped into an archery range.

Although we spend 10-12 hours a day in the kitchen (with a few breaks), and feed the kids until they are stuffed, they still find room to visit the snack shack.

Check out some of our musicians.

The little fellow in the center is holding a yellow water ballon and aiming at the counselor in the cage.

Good Hit! Even with the warm sun the water is cold!

Mark presents a lesson at the campfire about the diamond willow.

There are more than 30 varieties of willow in Alaska. Most will develop scaring caused by a fungus that attacks the dead branches. The tree continues to grow around the scar creating beautiful red diamonds in the wood.

These diamonds cannot be seen until the bark is removed.

Mark relates the beauty created around the scars to the problems, sadness and hurts in the kids' lives that God can and will turn into something beautiful, if the person will let God lead them.

I am carving the bark from a diamond willow to reveal the diamonds. It takes a lot of work and patience to remove the rough covering bark and see the beauty.

Patience and faith are needed to get past our problems if we let God clean us up.

I'm teaching the girls the Boy Scout concept of a "blood circle". The girls have been carving diamond willow sticks and need to be reminded that knives must not be used if a person is within cutting distance. Thus each carver must make sure that no one is within her "blood circle".
On the Forth of July, we attended a celebration at the Sullivan Roadhouse Museum and farmer's market. The color guard is presented by soldiers from Fort Greely.

Book sales were good and we sold several birch bark baskets for scholorships. There were many visitors from Alaskan bus tours that stopped in. Several RVers from the Lower 48 stopped to compare travel adventures.

Sunday afternoon, after church and a nap, I helped Lynne lay out her collection of souvioneer T-shirts to cut and make into a quilt.

For once we didn't have to make the Fairbanks run for groceries.

kinder-second graders camp

2009-07-01T18:19:00.019-05:00

This is a photo I took of a post card I found after Summer Solstis. It was taken above the Arctic Circle by time lapse photography as the sun was setting and then rising. The black shapes in the foreground are boats.

Dale, assisted by Levi, put the finishing touches on the pavillion rafters in preparation for the metal roof.

We cook and serve our first young campers, kids who have completed kindergarten through second grade.

Kids love water even when the temperature is in the 60's and there is a wind chill factor much lower. The game here is to soak the counselors and each other with buckets of cold water in a game of tag. And of course there is a water slide.

Having fun inspite of shivers!

Mrs. Noah (me, in costume) and Sassie read "Mrs Noah's Journal" to the children and discuss Noah following God's command to build an ark. Were dinosaurs on the ark?

Mark, the program director builds an evening campfire for singing, stories, fun and games...

and of course, S'mores.

Campers and their college-aged counselors pose for pictures before returning home. We'll miss them.

Saturday,I joined Levi, Jessica, Dale, Alex and Bryan on a fishing trip to Valdez. No, I don't fish but I wanted to visit this bayside (Prince William Sound), mountain side village where the Alaskan oil pipeline terminates.

We left Delta at 5 A M for the 5 hour drive in drizzle and rain. Crossing the Thompson Pass, the sun burned off the clouds and fog to present us with a beautiful sunny sky.

However, the fish weren't biting. I was disappointed for the fishermen, but I enjoyed the mountains and rocky coast and clear, cold water surrounding this tiny village. The winter temperature here doesn't get much below freezing, but they receive many feet of snow.

After eating at a dock side cafe, we explored the docks and marveled at the variety of large fishing boats, both private and commercial.Texas gardeners, we are put to shame. Take a look at these Alpine lupines (Texas bluebonnets)growing in Valdez.

With all the flower pictures I've made, I finally was able to photograph the For-get-me-not, the Alaskan State flower.

As we climbed back up the pass through the Wrangle/St Elias Mountain Range, we stopped to photograph the Bridal Veil Falls (right),

and the HorseTail Falls (left). Brave climbers near the lower foot of Horsetail falls are such tiny specks that they cannot be seen.

I hope readers are not tired of moose tales. After returning to Delta at 10 PM I was tired and fell asleep quickly. But Sunday morning, Frizbee, my cat woke me by standing on me and staring out the rear window of the RV. There, within yards of my back window, was a moose browsing on the willows. I took several pictures through the window, not daring to open the door and scare it off. I wondered if this was one of our mama mooses and if she had a calf bedded down in the thicket.

Sunday after church we were off again to Fairbanks, Wal-mart and Sams to restock for next week's camp. Lynne's leg is still bothering her so she commands the grocery train, with Dale pushing one flat bed, while pulling another. We're ready for another week of kids, cooking, cleaning, ministry and fun.

June 15-22 2009

2009-06-24T14:48:00.016-05:00

The library and wi fi have been shut down for the past couple of days so the gravel parking lot could be paved. Last week after I sent the blog I met this lady and her husband traveling with that monsterous cat on her lap from British Columbia to Prudhoe Bay. They, too, had stopped to check email.

This past week we have hosted and fed the college-aged counselors who will be working with the kids at camp. They gave a thumbs up to "most" of the new meals we tried out on them.

Mama moose and her new calf pause after passing the kitchen window early one morning while I was making breakfast. the calf is by the mama's back legs.

A couple of days later, we saw another mama moose with twin calves crossing the driveway.

The counselors learned the lesson of the diamond willow and are creating their own walking sticks. I'll relate the message at a later date.

These girls are returning to hot showers after spending the night in tents at 40 degrees and with rain.

With the much needed rain wild iris, also called blue flag, have begun to bloom in profusion filling the roadside and around the camp with brilliant blue.

Counselors practice recreation time on a "jumping thing".

So much energy. I'm glad they will be with the kids and I only have to feed and clean up after them.

I caught Dale with his "lunch" cart at Sam's club. This is a weekly adventure. What's for dinner?

Lynne slipped off the ladder this week and injured her knee. Dale insisted she use the crutches, so we fixed her up with a Wal-mart electric buggy. Nothing stops our shopping sprees. After all we have to travel 100 miles, 2 hours each way to get to WAl-Mart.

Shopping in Fairbanks on June 21, Summer Solstice, gave us an opportunity to experience the street fair. Notice the Alaskan Native decked out in diapers while the rest of us "cheechacos" are in sweatshirts.

A well-stocked dog sled displayed all the equipment needed to runn the Iditerod or the Yukon Quest. Dog food and additional supplies are air dropped at strategic locations along the 1000 mile routes.

Lynne, Sassie and I pose next to the monument, "Fairbanks, the Golden Heart City." Houston is 4,682 miles. (As the raven flies?).

The official sunset in Fairbanks was at 12:50 A.M. on Monday June, 22. This picture was taken about that time. Sun rise was at 2:57 A.M. The lenght of the day was 21 hours, 50 minutes and some seconds. When we arrive back at camp at 1:30 A.M. the sky look like this.

There is no nightime darkness, only twilight for the remaining 2 plus hours.

Now that summer has peaked, there will be shortening of days and twilight will become longer and darker. Is summer over already?

June 8-14 2009

2009-06-17T19:23:00.014-05:00

Monday, Tuesday and for most of the week Lynne and I and anyone else we could corral shoveled, raked and spread gravel.

Dale would not let me drive the fork lift, but he did give me a ride.

Kitchen duty included mixing 11-12 pounds of ground moose, buffalo, beef and pork sausage to make 6 huge meat loaves for the freezer.
In addition to cleaning the bath houses, we cut heavy rubber mats for the floors.

Dale enjoyed operating the fork lift. Here he is raising the first trusses to the sill of the new pavillion.

He's a master of all trades. Having fun, Dale?

Dale climbs like a monkey to add the other supports for the roof. He insisted that Lynne and I stay off the roof.

In the last few days the wild roses, iris and fireweed have begun to bloom. The forest floor and open areas have a surprising number of tiny delicate flowers.

Ryan brought the CAT and welded brackets for the new painted signs

I made my specialty, Dutch Oven apple cobbler, in the new fire pit. Ummm.
On Sunday, June 7th, Shawn, a volunteer from North Caroline, arrived at the Fairbanks Airport. He spent the week working with Dale on the pavillion. Haven't they done a great job? He flew home on Sunday. Thanks Shawn!

A group of youth came to camp for fun, food, music and ministry. Here they are playing Frisbee in the rain.

Saturday, Lynne and I braved the 45 degree, drizzle to participate in a crafts fair. I sold several books. We also sold enough baskets to add to the scholorship fund. We met several Alaskans who shared their experiences with us.Today I'll end with a photo of the new entrance gate. This week, I've come to the library twice before being able to get the blog up. Don't give up on me. I'll try to blog at least once a week.

It's starting to rain and the temp as dropped from mid 80's to 65.

Vacation Bible School in Delta

2009-06-08T15:37:00.013-05:00

Monday, June 1, the first day of Vacation Bible School was clear and cool (about 45). This view of the Alaska Range is outside the back door of First Baptist Church, Delta. What a way to start the day!

VBS theme is Boomerange Express. Do you like my outfit? Story telling kept the little wigglers reasonable quiet as they waited for others to finish.

The teens tie-dyed T shirts. An old favorite from my hippy days.

We had crafts projects every day for all kids grades Pre-K through 6th grade

Early one morning Lynne and I stopped to transplant wild sweet peas from the road side to our flower garden.

Are you tired of moose stories yet? I'm not. This mama moose is grazing outside the camp gate- the pipe structure in the left back ground. She moseyed into to the forest followed by a yearling. Yesterday we saw a large bull moose with new-growth shovel shaped antlers. He was in a field near the road. Could a new calf be on it's way?

In preparation for the construction of an open pavillion, Levi the youth pastor and two of the teens, Alex and Jay dug four three-foot deep holes for concrete forms. Once past the rock, the soil is loess, glacial silt and humus. They clobbered mosquitoes with the back swing.

VBS was held every day until noon, then we changed hats and became construction workers.

Holes dug, forms in place and time for the cement truck. Dale is assisting and Lynne supervising.

I'm helping Dale set, line up and level the bolts in the cement for the metal posts that will follow.

I reviewed my Boy Scout skills and used a double-bladed ax to cut birch roots from the hole we dug for the new fire pit which will be in the center of the pavillion.

Sunday morning during the service, several of the 50 children who had attended VBS gave us a rousing performance of some of their favorite songs.

And the work goes on. Lynne and I painted the beams that bolt to the cement piers, that went into the holes that the boys dug.

Will the pavillian be raised by next week's blog? Stay tuned.

Memorial Day, Work Days

2009-06-02T15:32:00.015-05:00

Memorial Day was memorable. We took the Martin's toad (that's RV lingo for "towed" vehicle) from Delta up into the Alaska Range. On the way we stopped at a crossing of the pipeline. Here Lynne and I attempt to hoist the pipe.Follow the pipe towards the horizon alongside the road and you will see it zig-zag on it's way 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the Artic Ocean to Valdez. The photo on the right is of glaciers in the Alaska Range.

Below is the frozen Delta River. The dark horizontal line is the edge of a solid sheet of ice about two feet thick. Closer to the shore is fast running water and ice chunks.

Summit lake is situated at the crest of the Alaska Range where the Richardson Highway passes on its way from Fairbanks to Glennallen, then on to Valdez. The wind was strong and cold, but the sun was bright and warm out of the wind.

These visitors are checking out a bear proof trash dumpster. Yes, bears are quite numerous and have the right of way.

Tuesday, we made the 200 mile, 4 hour round trip to Fairbanks for supplies and more groceries. On the return trip, after passing North Pole (yes, that's a real town) we stopped at the Knotty Shop for ice cream. The creature I'm "petting" is one of many created from boles, knobby growths on birch trees.
Another day of preparation. I painted signs for Vacation Bible School. The theme is Boomerang Express, "It all comes back to Jesus", thus the Australian, kangaroo.

Frizbee, my cat alerted me to the red squirrel perched in the cedar only feet away from the RV. Taken through the window and screen, the little fellow is difficult to see.

We've seen numerous snow shoe hares with huge white hind feet and bodies now turned brown for summer. Moose and a couple of porcupine have been added to my wild life list. Fresh bear scat was discovered not far into the forest from camp. I'm not anxious to meet up with a bear.

Camp prep. has included sorting and organizing crafts materials, painting the floor in the pantry, kitchen and dining hall, washing ALL the pots, pans and utensils in the kitchen and cleaning all the cabins.

While cleaning the kitchen and dining hall we discovered evidence of mice, and trapped one. While cleaning out the crafts supplies I found a bag of bird seed that had been scattered and must have fed a whole family of mice. Later, cleaning out a box of yarn that had house critters, Dale discovered this nest of seven baby mice. He released them into the woods.

Two weeks ago when I arrived the forest floor was dry and brown with winter leaves. Now tiny flowers have sprouted in the warming sun and 21 hours of daylight. What a surprise to find Bluebonnets! Actually a cousin, the artic lupine. With the help of friends and a flower book, I've identified lowbush and highbush cranberries, wild strawberries, labrador tea, wild sweet peas in pink, white, and magenta.

Yesterday, Monday, June 1, was our first day of Vacation Bible School. About 50 kids were in attendance. Here one of the teachers is assisting with crafts. We are teaching kids grades pre- K through 6. They are a lively, receptive bunch and a delight to work with. I'm so thankful for all those years of teaching.

VBS will continue all week. We are at the library again to use the internet, so until later. Have a great summer

Alaska at Last

2009-05-27T20:34:00.015-05:00

We arrived in Delta Junction, Sat, May 16. This is the mile marker in Delta at the end of the Alaskan Highway where it joined the Richardson Highway from Fairbanks.

The large building is the new dining hall that the volunteers, led by Dale, build last summer. To the left are cabins. The open area in front is a playing field. The camp buildings are surrounded by a thick forest of spruce and birch. When we arrived the forest floor was dead looking. When I walked on the thin grass in front, it was spongy like walking on a water bed. The permafrost is still thawing. Area of forest are boggy.
Sunday morning we attended church at First Baptist, Delta. Then returned for a Vacation Bible School training Clinic. With Lynne's able assistance, I will be teaching crafts. during VBS.

One of our many jobs has been to rake fresh gravel on the entrance road. We've also been cleaning the kitchen and floors in preparation for Dale to paint.

Notice the supervisors. Dale and Dave, the pastor are watching us rake gravel

Learning about a Family Frontier Day on Sat., Lynne and I began to make birch bark baskets to offer for sale with my books. Here Lynne is sewing the bottom onto a basket with sinew.

We offered our baskets and my books at the Fair. I sold several books and we made $50 on baskets for a scholar ship fund to help kids come to camp.

The fair was lots of fun with a hay ride wagon pulled by horses, lumber jack contests. Buffalo burgers and a pig kissing contest.

One of our many jobs was to wash the horribly dirty RVs. Glacier dust and road construction gravel had coated them like cement. My little class C is snuggled up to the Martins Class A.On Tuesday we made a trip to WalMart and Sams. This little excursion took us 100 miles and 2 hours. We drove to Fairbanks, a modern, although small city. Since I was here in 2002, there have been several new shopping centers and "big city" stores added.

Saturday night about 10:30 while it was still daylight, a mama moose strolled past my rig and onto the front playground. I was surprized. Sassie was shocked. Since then we've seen many moose as we've traveld the roads.

Sunday after church we had lunch at Rika's Roadhouse. The building, build in the early 1900's served as a "motel" and restraunt for miners, hunters, explorers and later workers on the Alaskan highway. The Alaskan pipe line crosses the Tanana River near the roadhouse. The area is now a state park with historic buildings housing turn of the century museums and artifacts.

The cabin to the right sports a sod roof that is growing grass and even a small tree near the chimney.

No I haven't gone completely native. This outhouse is no longer functional. However while at the fair we talked to a young mother who is raising 6 kids in a cabin with no indoor plumbing or running water. She heats with propane and hauls water in jugs.

I talked to another mother whose kids attend school every day unless the temp is 50 degrees BELOW zero. Then the busses don't run. She said it's colder at 20 above than 20 below (that is above or below zero, not freezing at 32 degrees). It's because of the wind. At 20 below zero there is no wind. Burrr.

The first morning here the temp was 27. Now it is averaging 35-40 in the morning and the highs have been in the mid 70s.

Sunset today is 11:27 and sun rise is 3:49 (May 27th). The remaining 4 hours is twilight.

Alaska Bound, 2009

2009-05-18T13:39:00.021-05:00

Today is my first opportunity to down load photos and send a blog. I've been on the road in my motorhome for two glorious weeks. Photos and a digital recorder enabled me to take lots of notes for writing.
My first overnight stop was at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Tx., where I hiked to the river to see the dinosaur foot prints fosselized in stone.
The following morning I visited the Creation Evidences Museum also located on the Puluxy River. Dr. Carl Baugh presented an informative talk on research that shows how God created the world in six days, and that our Earth is "young", not billions of years old.

After a visit with the Parkers in Paris, TX. I followed their directions to Chisom Trail Cowboy Church where I worshiped with music from a six piece cowboy band, and met many families from the area.

A wonderful visit with old friends, the Stoningers, in Antlers, Ok, and place to park in their yard, I followed their directions to Turner Falls, State Park. Due to excessive rains the falls were full and flowing.

Arrived in Teton National Park on May 7 after a climb from Casper, Wy. to the Continental Divide at over 9,000 feet with snow flurrys. Was greated by the sight of the Teton Mountains beyound a frozen lake.

On May 8, the sun woke me to 17 degrees.

The Teton Mountain range reflected in a section of the lake that was not frozen.

Sassie, my collie and I waited for the South Entrance to Yellowstone to open in several feet of fresh snow. Park Rangers were sanding higher elvations of the roadway where ice had formed. The East Entrance was closed due to a rock slide.

Old Faithful Gyser erupted thirty minutes later than predicted but the sight was worth the wait.Gibbons Falls cascaded in a deep canyon to the river far below.

These bison are only a few of the many small herds of bison I saw along the roadway not only in Yellowstone, but in Canada and the Yukon.

Many of the mineral pools and fumerols were closed to closer inspections due to bears feeding in those locations. There was a "bear jam" at one location were cars were parked along the shoulders as visitors watched a grizzly in the forest.

At Mammoth Hot Springs, mineral laiden hot waters boil to the surface and coat the rocks with colorful mineral deposits. Smells like sulfur.

I met my friends, the Martins, at Wal-Mart in Great Falls, Montana. They live in Manteo, North Caroline in the winter and have spent the past eight years on mission to Alaska.

Sunday, Mother's Day, we attended Fairview Baptist Church in Great Falls. This lovely building was built in 1910. After the service, Dale took Lynne and I out to lunch for Mother's Day. Later we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Records of their exploration make my travels seem puny.

At noon on Monday, May 11, we caravaned across the US/Candadian border to Lethbridge, Alberta. At the border my GPS, which had not been set, spoke up "You have reached your destination." Little did that unseen navigator know that I wasn't even half way there!

This wind gage was at the Visitor's Center in Lethbridge and was an indication of the winds we were to fight as we headed north.

Two days drive across Canada and we finally arrived at Dawson Creek, mile "O" of the Alaskan Highway. Built in 1942, the year I was born. the lure of the route enticed my first trip in 2002.

This black bear, grazing alongside the highway is the first of the four that we saw along the AlCan. Also spotted were stone sheep, caribou, a moose, porcupine and an eagle.
What a place to camp! The frozen Muncho Lake within feet of my front door. Spruce trees, mountains, Ravens and even a sea gull.

A must stop for every Alaskan Highway traveler is Liard Hot Springs Provencial Park. Even though the air temp was in the 40's, the hot springs entices swimmers with it's waters. We chose to explore the boardwalks and upper springs rather than strip to swim suits.

Another obligatory stop is the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake. A homesick soldier helping to construct the AlCan nailed a sign to a post indicating how far he was from home. Other soldiers and construction workers followed suit, as have many thousands of travelers since.

Many miles, adventures, and days later we arrived at the Alaska border.

Another 100 miles and we arrived in Tok for gas and 100 miles further we arrived at last at Camp Baldwin, Delta Junction, Alaska.
4,678 miles from Beaumont, I thank God for safty and memories of a lifetime.

Until I can email again, Carol

On the Road Again

2009-04-30T10:10:00.007-05:00

Sunday, April 26, 2009, Pastor "Big" Jim Salles and my church family at West End Baptist Church, Beaumont, TX, presented me with a love offering to help with gas on my missions trip to Alaska.

After prayer, we enjoyed a pot-luck dinner.

My itinerary includes visits with friends in Paris, TX, and Antlers, OK. then a stop in Yellowstone NP before meeting up with fellow volunteers, Lynne and Dale Martin in Great Falls, Montana.

From there we will caravan through Canada and the Yukon.

While at Camp Baldwin, Delta Junction, AK, I will be joining short term Campers on Mission volunteers to provide maintaince, cook, teach crafts, and do other custodial chores. Lynne and Dale are camp directors. I'm just a general go-fer assistant.

As I travel, I follow the Roman Road that I'm sharing below:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

All means you and me.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23. The consequences of unbelief is death, but

"...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." John 3:16a

"But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

God provided a substitute, Jesus, who died for our sins.

"...that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16b

"...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

"For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation." Romans 10:10.

"For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13

Dear Lord,

I admit that I have sinned and need your forgiveness. I now turn from my sins to folow You. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that He came back to life after three days. I invite You to come into my heart and life. I confessYou as my Savior and Lord.

Thank You for Your love and the gift of eternal life.

In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Expect to be Empowered!

2009-04-24T14:06:00.003-05:00

A Venture in Faith Texas to Alaska, A Road Trip to Recovery, my first contemporary Christian novel has been released by Publications Consultants, Anchorage, Alaska.

Writing non-fiction was a challenge, but after four published books creating fiction has been, and is, a demanding and stimulating undertaking.

Excerpt from the back cover:

"Stalked by her abusive ex-husband and in fear for her life, Leah Gray plans an escape. Leah's faith in God and in humanity shatters when she is forced out of her comfort zone. She secretly purchases a used motor home as a mobile hide-out and prepares to pursue a search for a meaningful life.

Intrigued by her father's stories of building the Alaska Highway, Leah determined to flee into the Alaska wilderness. On her road trip from Texas to Alaska she encounters empowering women who encourage her on her road to self discovery. Leah's fear of men intensifies when she is forced to trust Barrett, an Alaskan mountain man. Can Leah stop running and find healing and love, and return to her faith in God?"

For intrigue, romance and an Alaskan experience, A Venture in Faith is a read that is hard to put down. Available at local bookstores, Amazon.com and from the author.

Follow my blog as I travel back to Alaska for book signings, and to volunteer.

Way to Go, Chelsea!

2009-04-22T10:19:00.013-05:00

Chelsea is my 14 year old grand daughter. She won an all most all expense paid scholorship to participate in the i-sweeep science fair in Houston. I-SWEEEP, the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environmental Project Olympiad is the largest science fair of its kind in the world.
I went along as Chelsea's supervisor and chaperone.
Chelsea flew from Orlando, Florida, by herself. Here she is exiting the gate tunnel calling her mom, my daughter, Colleen, to let her know she landed safely.

Chelsea's first chore was to unpack her project board and notebooks, and to set up her display.

Chelsea and I met with over 600 students from around the world, from 60 nations and from 40 states. These girls are from Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany, and France.

On the first night welcoming event, students paraded with flags of their respective countries, through the large auditorium and packed the stage.

Chelsea standing by the large poster welcoming students to the George R. Brown Convention Center.

This photo is a partial view of more than 600 project displays on the floor of the convention center.

Students were treated to a field trip to the Museum of Natural Science, the I-Max and the Planetarium.

And to NASA. Here Chelsea is with a new friend, Piper, from Austin, TX

On Awards Night, Chelsea won an Honorable Mention and $100 for her environmental project in the junior category. She is the tiny white spot between the two men left of center. Proud grandma couldn't get closer to the stage!

With a big grin, Chelsea shows off her certificate.

Way to Go Girl!

To learn more about isweeep, go to www.isweeep.com.

Art in the Park

2009-04-03T07:33:00.007-05:00

Sat. March 28th was the annual Art in the Park in beautiful downtown Orange. The skys were clear. The temp in the very low 40s with high gusty winds and a chill facter that felt like zero. Mother helped man my book booth until the cold and wind forced her inside. The wind blew several tents over.

The young ladies below took shelter in empty Waste Management boxes.

A Barbershop Quartet braved the cold to doff their jackets and sing for us.

Due to the weather the shopping crowds were thin. The beautiful Stark Mansion and other historical building added to the fun.

With paintings, sculpture and jewelry, as well as a variety of other crafts, I heard that there was only one other author on the opposite side of the park. Is reading becoming an eccentricity?

Interrupted narative is common: ie TV movies rudely split by commercials. Has the silicon chip interfeared with our ability to consentrate on reading? iPods, BlackBerrys, and email slang has broken narrative into shorter and cruder sequences. Can our brain endure sustained reading?

I, and all writers, certainly hope so.

Crystal Beach, six Months after Ike

2009-03-22T15:17:00.009-05:00

Last week I joined Texas Diaster Relief teams from several states to cook for youth volunteers who gave up their Spring Break to help clean up the debris along the Texas Gulf Coast.

These flags were attached to one of the pilings that was all that was remaining of someone's beach house.

First Baptist Church of Crystal Beach was the location of the feeding units. The church experienced severe damage and extensive flooding but was still standing. The church made the area news as it was refuge for a resident and his lion. The lion rode out the storm with human evacuees in the sactuary.The picture on the right is of me stirring a tilt-skillet to cook chili for 700 youth that came from Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma and distant areas of Texas to help out.

Notice the long line of hungry workers to the left of the servers. The line waiting to be served seemed to have no end. We often served for 1-2 hours at each meal to get every one fed.

Some of the student volunteers worked in the church hanging sheetrock and painting, while others cleaned the fire station, individual homes and businesses. Other teams cleaned up trash in the area as well as in Galveston.

Of course all work and no play makes for a tiring day.Even the sea gulls got fed!

Volunteering is a satisfying experience wherever you go and whatever you are led to do whether cook, paint or pick up trash.

dogtober parade

2009-03-14T18:52:00.007-05:00

Sassie and I braved the unseasonably cold damp weather to attend the
Beaumont Dog-tober celebration.
Postponed due to Ike until March, the festivities was a time of meeting folks and trying to take pictures of cute dogs, inspite of Sassie pulling on the leash as she tryed visit with all the other dogs.

Here we are visisting with Sparky the fire station mascot.

This little lady has the right idea.

I'm not sure the doggie below is very happy in her

outfit,

but the poodle looks lovely.

All dressed up and ready to go. My camera batteries died before I could capture other fasinating pooches. What fun being a writer. Now if I can think of a story to incorporate the adorable dogs.

signs of spring

2009-02-27T16:50:00.007-06:00

What a wonderful time of year to take long walks with a camera.

Today is a non-renewable resource.

Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
Give Thanks for today because it's given to you by God. Author Unknown

Author DiAnn Mills

2009-02-24T18:46:00.005-06:00

DiAnn Mills, a prolific writer, is my mentor, teacher and friend. We met during an Inspirational Writers Alive Conference in Houston several years ago when I attended her presentation on turning fact into fiction.

DiAnn has masterfully researched facts in her latest novel, Breach of Trust , to be released in March. Romance takes a back seat to deception and danger in an action packed tale of suspense.

Heroine, Paige Rogers, hiding behind her cover as a small town librarian is a strong, couragous woman with a past. Discover this page turner.

You won't be disappointed.

writing tips I've learned from dogs

2009-02-15T18:48:00.009-06:00

Always greet editors, agents and other writers with enthusiasm, even if you just saw them three minutes ago. They never grow tired of thinking they are the most important people in your life.

Continuously learn new tricks. It keeps you in the game.

Sleep as much as possible but always be ready to play when the chance arises.

Don't be afraid to get ddirty, it fact relish it.

Barking a lot is annoying, so don't do it often. Be a good listener so when you do bark you will get attention.Don't confuse your tail with a goal worth chasing.

Be prepared to roll over and accept changes.

body language for writers

2009-02-05T15:45:00.008-06:00

I haven't had much luck with humans allowing me to study their body language, so after reading the book "Do Cats Think" I decided to analyze the three cats who dominate my home.

Frizbee, posing amoungst the books, seems to say, "Of course we think. Do you?"

Haughty Beowulf's posture says, "Why should I communicate with mere humans."

Grendel and Beowulf share a secret, "We exist to eat and sleep. Sometimes we allow humans to stroke our fur to vent their frustrations. and reduce stress."

"It 's obvious that we are intent on tracking that pesky squirrel.

Why won't someone let us out? We'll get him."

"Squirrel? What squirrel? All I see is birds."

" At the end of a tough day of posing for wanna-be writers and chasing off squirrels, it's time to relax. Resting is what cat's think about all day. Napping is what we do best."

Debra Johnson, Speaker

2009-01-26T15:24:00.002-06:00

I was fortunate to attend the 16th Beaumont History Conference last Saturday and hear a presentation by Debra Johnson titled "100 Years of Farming in Jasper County".

Debra, a fellow writer, critique partner and member of the Golden Triangle Writer's Guild is to be commended for reseraching and preserving the pioneering spirit of her family's ancestors who settled and made Texas their home.

She said that in 1910, blacks owned 15 million acres of farm land. 218,000 black farmers were full or part-time owners. Although the number has dwindled signigicantly their family farm, the Triple D Johnson Farm, has a 116 year legacy to continue the tradition of black land ownership and East Texas Farming.

Today the farm's cash crop is red and yellow meat watermellons, as well as vegetables, and fruits. She says she cans all the family needs and sells the rest.

Debra's display of artifacts and photos, as well as a family Bible, are testamony to her research.

I appologise to Debra for not having my camera!

Did you know?

2009-01-16T20:19:00.005-06:00

President elect Obama has stated that one of his first acts will be to pass the FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act) that will permit abortion on demand until the day of birth with no restrictions.

Taxpayers would be now required to pay for elective abortions with tax dollars under Medicaid programs and in the military.

Babies could be aborted UP TO THE DAY OF BIRTH. The child would be delivered normally, all but the head, and then killed.

Informed consent laws giving women accurate medical facts will be overturned.

Parental notification laws would be nullified.

Laws requiring a waiting period would be eliminated.

Abortions would not have to be preformed by a licensed physician.

Doctors and nurses will be sued if they refuse to participate in abortions.

Hospitals will be forced to do abortions or be shut down.

Artificially implanted, cloned human embryos could be allowed to be carried to term.

There's more. See http://www.focafacts.com/
www.nrlc.org/FOCA
www.frc/org
www.aul.org/FOCA

Obama was born to a single, teenaged mother who chose life. Why does he disreguard Life?

What a New Year

2009-01-08T19:05:00.009-06:00

During the Christmas holidays my Mother and I took a road trip by RV to visit relatives in Florida. Mother wanted to visit cousins from Cuba where she was born. Many of these extended family did not speak much English. what a challenge to my limited SpanisCousin Armondo, his wife and daughter in Naples, Fla. with Mother.

Elsa and daughter, Marisol with Mother in Miami, Fla.

Cousin Rory, wife and son with Mother

in Miami.

My grandson, Devin, who volunteers at the Avian Rehabilitation Center near Orlando and an owl.

Grandkids, Hannah, Chelsea, Rachel and Devin in Apopka.

Grandsons, Kyle, and Ryan with cats.

My daughter and husband in Apopka, and daughter and son in Tarpon Springs managed to avoid the camera.

What a wonderful two weeks visiting with family. A great way to start the New Year.

Blogging is an ideal way to keep in practice writing.

Happy New Year to All.

rhat a New Yeat

2009-01-08T14:23:00.001-06:00

Jesus is the Reason

2008-12-20T17:02:00.006-06:00

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given , and the government will be on his shoulders.

And He will be called Wonderful counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9:6

The igloo and figures are from Alaska.

The grey Nativity was made for ash from Mount Helens.

This white egg shaped Nativity was made from sands at White Sands, New Mexico.

The aluminum painted Nativity is from Mexico.

My God bless you and your family, especially during this Christmas season.

Christmas Surprise!!

2008-12-11T18:11:00.012-06:00

What a difference a day makes in southeast Texas. Yesterday, Dec. 10. I walked Sassie at 6:30 A.M. The temp. was 70 degrees.

This morning we woke up to temp below 30 and six inches of fresh powdery SNOW!

What fun!! Mother said to hurry up with the pics.
She was ready to go back in the warm house.

Snow frosting on the Oak trees.

Sassie and I are acclimating for a trip to Alaska.

Sassie is looking for a sled to pull

Neighbors and rare, allusive snow people.

May everyone have a Blessed Christmas, and all the excitement and joy of celebrating Christ's Birth.

Ch!ristmas Surprise

2008-12-11T18:08:00.001-06:00

Christmas Surprise!

2008-12-11T17:43:00.011-06:00

Wednesday, Dec. 10, I walked Sassie at 6:30 am. Temp was 70 degrees.

What a difference a day makes!! This morning the temp was below freesing and there was six inches of powdery SNOW on the ground, in the trees and coating the cars.

Aren't we having fun!!! Sassie is looking for a sled to pull.

Mother is smiling, but urging me to hurry so she can go back inside!

Sassie and I are acclimating for a trip to Alaska.

Snow frosted Oaks and cactus.

Neighbors and rare, allusive SNOW people.

Wishing everyone a wonder spiritfilled Christmas. May the Joy of the season of Christ's Birth cause you as much excitement as the rare snowfall in southeast Texas.

Christmas Surprise!!

2008-12-11T17:16:00.013-06:00

Aren't we having fun! Mother, Sassie and me.

Magnificent snow frosting on the oaks.

And cactus

Neighbors with rare, allusive SNOW people.

Friends

2008-12-08T15:29:00.003-06:00

I'm trying to send blogs to the e-mail address of friends.
If you received this and want to stay on the list, do nothing.
If you don't want to receive the blogs, please let me know by e-mail.
If you didn't receive this bolg and want to get on "the list", let me know!

Pre Christmas Busy. Busy

2008-12-08T15:02:00.003-06:00

Sorry no photos this time. Last week was filled with Writer Critique Group.
Congratulations to Debra Johnson for her published receipe that won honorable mention AND monery! Laurie Kolp was feature editor in the Beaumont Enterprise. Way to go!
First Friday in Groves was cold, but with Lisa and Debbie joining Melanie and me warm friendships kept us from freezing.
Saturday, Westend Baptist Church hosted a baby shower for moms from the Hope Pregancy Center who delivered within the last quarter. We had two mom's who had new born twins! Another mom was due any minute, one due on the 17th, one on the 24, and one on the 25th.
What a busy Christmas season.

Tomorrow night Golden Triangle Writers meets at Barns and Noble. Hope to see you there.
Put next Friday and Saturday on your calendar. I will be signing at during the Old Timer's Days in Sour Lake. Other writers are invited to join me. Just give me an e-mail.

Answers to Thaksgiving Trivia

2008-12-01T14:43:00.003-06:00

The first Thanksgiving was in Dec, 1621, held in Plymoth, Mass.
Linclon proclamed the national holiday in 1863.
The four most popular menu items are turkey (ofcourse) cranberries, dressing adn sweetpotatoes, except for yankees who prefer whites )Did you get all four?)
On average
256 million turkeys
640 million pounds of cranberries
1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes and
998 thousand pumkins are eaten (seems like I ate most of it!)

Turkey Creek, TX
Turkey, Tenn
Turkey, NC
and bonus, the country of Turkey.

Approx 107 million families celebrate Thanksgiving annually. Families, Friends and Food. So much to be thankful for!!

Thanksgiving Trivia

2008-11-28T18:36:00.002-06:00

The turkey is now a carcass. The pecan pie reduced to crumbs. We've caught up with the lives of relitives and expressed thanks for blessings we've received.
Now is time for a little Thanksgiving trivia. Answers will follow.
When was the first Thansgiving?
Where was it held?
Who proclaimed Thansgiving as a national holiday?
What year?
What are the four most popular menu items? This should be easy.
How many pounds of turkey are consumed on average?
How many pounds of cranberries?
How many sweet potatoes?
How many pounds of pumpkins?
Name three cities named after the main course.
Approx. how many families celebrate Thanksgiving annually?
True or False: the day after Thanksgiving is sthe most popular shopping day in America.

Watch for answers. See how you did.

Time to give thanks

2008-11-23T16:51:00.003-06:00

I have so much to be thankful for this year. My writing has been very successful with my first novel, "Beneath the Surface" to be released soon. A second novel, "Venture in Faith" is with an agent.
I contributed a short piece to "Write Before Christmas" andanthology which will be available soon.

This month I've had several book signings in the Beaumont area, spoke for the Writer's Guild in Jasper and attended the Bayou Writer's conference in Lake Charles with several writer's from Beaumont.

I'll have a booth at Groves First Friday in December and a booth at the Old Timers Festival in Sour Lake, Dec 12-13. Stop by for a visit!

Hope Women Clinic Gayla

2008-11-13T08:30:00.004-06:00

Hope Women's Clinic of Beaumont hosted a fundraiser Gayla, Nov. 11, 2008. Over 400 attended the event at the Elegante Hotel.

Guest speaker was W. Paul Young, author of "The Shack". He spoke of himself as an "accidental writer", because he wrote this book as a gift for his children. He planned to print 15 copies at Office Depot.

He was rejected by 26 publishers, and self-published with two friends. Today "The Shack" has been on the best seller list for 24 weeks, has sold 4 million copies and is in 35 languages.

"The Shack" is true, but not real." Young says, explaining that it's his interpretation of the human soul. God cares about each one of us from conception.

Sally, the mother of adorable Malachi, spoke about her son who was diagnosed before birth with down syndrome and serious heart problems. She refused doctor's suggestions to abort. Sally and Malachi's daddy, Chip, put baby Malachi into God's hands. Today he is a happy toddler, walking, talking, singing, and a blessing to all who meet him.

Pres. Bush has signed into law a bill that requires parents of unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome, spina bibida, cystic fibrosis and similar maladies to be provided the latest info. on the condition and be informed on services available. A registery of families willing to adopt special-needs children will be established.

Texas lawmakes propose a bill that would require women who want to abort to be required to listen to the heartbeat and get ultra-sound images before undergoing the procedure.

Does the mom-to-be who goes in for an abortion know that the "blob of tissue" that gave her a positive pregancey test had a heart beat? Had she seen an ultrasound image of her baby? Would she choose abortion if she'd been honestly informed?

Planned Parenthood of Houston has purchased a 6 story building in southwest Houston where an entire floor is to be dedicated to third term, partial-birth, abortions. Babies who could live. Houston is the third largest abortion provider in the nation now, and soon will be the largest.

More babies are aborted daily in the United States that the number of people killed in 9/11.

What you believe counts.

Pregnancy Resurce Center East, Baytown

2008-11-08T15:15:00.003-06:00

Banquet speaker, Khristey Walker, director of the Community Pregnancy Center, Houston, gave an awsome testamony of being "Forgiven and Set Free" from the guilt and remorse of having aborted her first two children.

Khristey said that 1 in 4 women have experienced abortion and continue to suffer heartache and depression from a problem pregnancy that was not solved, but exchanged for surpressed memories, grief and shame.

Although raising a child was not in Khristey's life plan at the time, no one suggested that she make an adoption plan. Today, a mother-to-be has the option to make a life saving choice, to give life to her child, enable another family to cherish a child, and to remain a part of her child's life if she chooses.

Loving, caring families wait, not only for a newborn, but for children with special needs. Moms who are not ready to parent can make an adoption plan and find the perfect family for their child through one of the many reputible agencies.

Nov. National Adoption Awareness Month

2008-11-04T11:15:00.004-06:00

"There are no unwanted children, just unfound homes." Nat. Adoption Center states that there are 114,000 children waiting for a Forever Home in the U.S.

6,000 children with special needs wait in Texas. Darrell was one of these children.

I adopted Darrell when he was 3 1/2 years old. He is blind and profoundly retarded due to shaken baby syndrome- child abuse.

This is his story. And the story of his impact on my growing family. Darrell joined my two daughters and older adopted son in our single parent home

My family grew through adoption to 12 children. Most of these kids fell into the category of special needs: physical, medical, emotional abuse and neglect. Some were older, some were members of sibling groups, some were of a minority race. All were children who craved love and a Forever Family.

My children are now adults, most with children of their own.

Why would a single, working mom take on such a task? What is the purpose for Darrell's life? How did he influence our family? Would I do it again?

Interested in adoption? Check out some of the links in my website: grandmas-bookshelf.com.

For a special copy of "Adopting Darrell" for $5.00 to cover shipping, leave a post with e-mail address.

Nov. National Adoption Awareness Month

2008-11-03T20:12:00.003-06:00

"There are no unwanted children, just unfound families." Nat. Adoption Center states that there are 114,000 children waiting for adoption in the United States.

6,000 children with special needs wait in Texas. Darrell was one of those childdren.

I adopted Darrell when he was 3 1/2 years old. He joined my two biological daughters and older adopted son. He is blind and profoundly retarded due to shaken baby syndrome- child abuse.

Why would a single, working mom take on such as task? How did he influence our family? Would I do it again?

My family grew through adoption to 12. Most of these kids fell into the category of special needs; Physical, medical, emotional abuse and neglect. Some were older, some were members of sibling groups, some were minority races. All were children who craved love and a forever family.

My children are now adults with children of their own.

Interested in adoption? Check out some of the links in my web site: Grandmas_bookshelf.com

Volunteering in Galveston

2008-10-25T20:06:00.005-05:00

My friend Mercedes and I joined Diaster Relief volunteers from many states to prepare and serve meals for Galveston residents and volunteer workers.

This photo is an overview of the feeding site at the airport on Oct 18, 2008. The tan buildings in the background are airplane hangers. Yellow tents housed the cooking facilities. Visible are pot washing areas, red cambros (food storage containers) and a Salvation Army feeding unit.

We served three meals daily to Salvation Army and Red Cross volunteeers as well as Security personel.

The photo on the left is of the canteen were volunteers were served. Salvation Army trucked meals to 15 permanent sites twice a day, while Red Cross sent 50 trucks on search and feed missions twice a day.

It was a blessing to see the vast number of workers cooperating and working together. We provided a surprise bananna split desert one evening.

From Sept 24 to Oct 18, 670,000 meals had been served!!

Signing at Escapees

2008-10-25T20:01:00.003-05:00

Mother joined me at the Escapees RV Club head quarters at Rainbowsend in Livingston for a book signing.

Met lots of new folks and renewed friendships.

Sold several copies of each book, too.

Wheee! Look Who's 90!! (not me!)

2008-10-05T15:47:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated my Mother's 90th birthday. She is sharing her cake with great granddaughter Julianna who turned seven.

We evacuated from Ike to Lake Charles to

stay with my brother and family. While there we were invited to attended a Keenager outing and fish fry at Dry Creek Baptist Camp. With coaxing and help, we got Mother into the Paul Bunyon's style rocker on the porch. Anyone having this much fun can't possibly be ninty years young!

Happy Birthday, MOM!!

Feeding volunteers

2008-10-03T18:10:00.005-05:00

By the end of last week, Southern Baptist Diaster Relief, feeding units had decreased as most families in Beaumont had electricity and no longer needed hot meals.

One of the Feeding Units from Washington State was reassigned to First Baptist Church in Vidor where I joined them to cook for other volunteeres.

Here we are serving three meals a day to around a hundred volunteers. These men and women from around the U.S. are with chain-saw units and mud-out units. The teams are goining into the community to cut trees and clean the homes of people who need help.

Laurie and Vernon from Southern Baptist Diaster Relief from Washington State and Betsy with New Jersey Red Cross are precious new friends who volunteered time away from their families to help us. Thanks to you all. I'll never forget our friendship and your willingness to give of yourselves.

I just learned that the March of Dimes is available to aid families with infants. If you know of a need contact the Hope Pregnancy Center at 4009-898-4005.

Disaster Relief

2008-09-27T19:40:00.014-05:00

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Teams from Oregon/Washington, and Dallas,Tx, and Lindale, Tx met to work with Red Cross workers from many states at Weatgate Baptist Church.

We began the day at 6 AM with prayer.

Truck loads of equipment are unloaded.

Volunteers from many states gather to unload cans and boxes of supplies

and prepare meals using 50 gallon pots.

Pots and Pans and Dish Duty, Oh My!

Meals are loaded onto Red Cross ERVs (Emergency Response Vehicles) and taken to ten Beaumont locations. Over 7,000 meals were served each day with the numbers dwindling as homes gained electricity.

In the times of distress people look for joy as seen on this sign posted on the door of the church where we assembled the feeding units. It reads:

Why Christmas and Hurricane Seasons are alike.

1. Houses are decorated (boarded up windows)

2. regular TV shows are pre-empted for "specials"

3. You have days off from work

4. At some point you know you're going to have a tree in your house.

We all can use a good laugh and a helping hand. What a joy it's been to work with these dedicated people and to get to know so many of them.

Everybody Has a Story

2008-09-23T16:02:00.004-05:00

Little did I know when I spoke for the Golden Triangle Writers Guild, 9/9, that we'd be evacuating ahead of Hurricane Ike on 9/11.

I talked about journaling events, writing memiors from journals and keeping family history. Did you journal your experiences during Ike? If not, it's not too late to catch up. Your memories, empressions and reactions are important.

Update those notes.

My home was not damaged. I was blessed to be safe at my brother's in Lake Charles. The biggest challenge I faced was boredem waiting for the power to be restored.

Since returning to Beaumont, I've assisted in tree and limb removal and am now working with Baptist Disaster Relief cooking meals that are served by the Red Cross.

Gustov? Evacuate for Ike?

2008-09-06T10:03:00.007-05:00

Gustov was on everyone's mind. Stay or evacuate. Now we wait for Ike. Has it been a week ago that I got the RV packed? Mother, who will soon be 90, Sassie the collie and Frizbee the cat and I left Sat. at noon for Kilgore. Sunday we drove to Mother's sister's in southwest Missouri for a "vacation". We helped her pack for her move to Kilgore. Hearing about the threat of tornados we started south on Tuesday in heavy rain.

Back in sunny Beaumont I was confronted with swarms of a gazillion love bugs.

This is the only way I found to attack those nasty critters.

The long hours on the road gave me time to contemplate how people react to stressful situations. Here are some thoughts: Denial. Deliberate. Decision.

Let's consider Gustov, then Ike.

Denial: Rita hit, will Gustov? Do we chance it? Naa... . Ike won't come here, Gustov didn't.

In challenging situations do we first deny that we could personally be affected?

Deliberate: What if? What if Ike follows Katrina or Rita? Eveybody shares stories of their worst experiences: traffic jambs, power outages, fallen trees, homes damaged. Naaa.. it'll be another false alarm, or will it? Pros/cons. Should have and didn't. Didn't and should have.

Perhaps we should buy batteries and bottled water, just in case. Most won't want to evacuate again. Will you?

Decision: Action. (Or inaction). Planning and preparation based on past experiences. Once a decision is made and action is taken we have a temporary relief of doing something, anything. Even if we drive for days and the hurricanae takes a welcome detour.

Results maybe exhaustion and frustration, or relief.

And the cycle goes on, next hurricane season or Hurricane Ike.

Now if only I'd had my tape recorder so I could "write" while on the road.

SummerFest '08

2008-08-24T15:30:00.005-05:00

Several volunteers from the Pregnancy Resouce Center East in Baytown manned a booth at SummerFest. Sat. 23 rd.

I was priviledged to share their booth with my books, and with two adorable girls Bethany and Alexandra.

Our presidential candidates answered some imporant questions in the media. Each was asked his understanding of when life begins.

My answer is found in Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you". God is saying that from conception, before cell division, etc. there is life.

Isaiah 44:2 says "I am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born." When I look at my adopted son Darrell, blind and profoundly retarded, do to shaken baby syndrom, I don't blame God for his imperfect life, because I know that God's purpose for Darrell's life is that I tell his story to pregant and parenting young people to teach them about the devistation of post partum depression and child abuse prevention. I also talk to them about the loving option of making an adoption plan for thier child.

Your Spare Change Can Spare Babies and Change Lives

2008-08-17T16:27:00.002-05:00

The Hope Center for Crisis Pregnancy, Beaumont, relies on love, prayer, volunteers and donations to enable us to help mothers-to-be and new mothers with pregnancy tests, counseling, parenting classes and baby needs such as diapers and clotheing.

These bottles were filled at West End Baptist Church. You may get bottles for your church to participate at the center. Put your bottle in a location so it does not become part of the decor and fill it with change, bills and checks!

Saturday, Aug. 23, the Pregancy Resource Center of Baytown will be participating with SummerFest. 'o8

I will be signing my books during that time at their booth.

Come join us for a free concert, venders and a fun filled day in the park. This is the largest Christian event in Baytown. Held at Bicentenial Park, 1001 Market St., Baytown, from 2:00 PM till???

Guilds, Groups and Conferences

2008-08-16T19:25:00.002-05:00

Imagine my dismay when I realized I'd forgotten my camera last Tuesday. The Golden Triangle Writers Guild met, as we always do ,on the second Tuesday on the month at Barns and Noble. For the writer wanna-be as well as the published author this meeting is a time to learn, share and get to know what's going on in the world of writing. Speakers present on a variety of subjects from screen writing to blog writing, from poetry to novels. Topics of publishing, agents and editors are covered with lots of time for questions and answers.

At this meeting we also discussed having a guild sponsored book signing at Barns and Noble this fall. All published authors, who are members will be invited to participate. What an incentive to join!

See you next month!

Writers are readers

2008-08-11T14:00:00.004-05:00

My computer's been in the shop so I'm late with this blog.
Tropical storm Euardo was as bust, but I couldn't take a chance, so my computer was unplugged. (It got a virus later) Time to curl up with a book, except that Frizbee wanted attention, too.

We writers must be avid readers to know what's going on in the world of publishing. Whether we read non-fiction to verify details and facts, or fiction to suggest character traits, strengthen plots or to inspire dialog, writers are critial readers, often spotting editing and author errors. Don't those bug you?

My lastest women's contemporary fiction is set in Alaska so I've been reading Alaska stuff. Imagine a heroine driving to a remote bush village north of the Arctic circle. No way! No Roads! Enough to make me throw out the book. Another fiction was written by someone who has never been north on Montana. Is research lacking?

I've driven to Alaska three summers to work as a volunteer and make copious journal entries, taken lots of photos, collected picture post cards., and added to my research library. All tax deductible.

Frizbee's not bored he's just resting his eyes.

Writers must be readers, critical readers. Writers read on!

Inspirational Writers Alive! Conference

2008-08-03T19:25:00.003-05:00

Saturday was a day of surprises. I attended the IWA conference at First Baptist Church, Houston, with several members of the Agape Chapter of IWA. I was awarded honorable mention for my book proposal for A Venture of Faith .

I am with DiAnn Mills, author of several women's novels, a wonderful mentor and inspiration to the writing of this novel.

I had entered this contest back in the spring when the proposal was in its beginning stages. The manuscript has progressed since then. and is nearing completion.

The photo on the right is with Terry Burns, an agent with Hartline Literary Agency who is working with me to pitch A Venture in Faith.

Meet the Christian Authors' Night

2008-08-03T19:14:00.002-05:00

What an exciting night. Forty authors plus musicians, jewelry makers and good food made Friday Aug. 1 a night to remember. Woods Edge Community Church in the Woodlands hosted the event as afund raiser to benefit their ministry to single mothers.

I sold books, made new friends, and met other Christian authors.

I hope this becomes a yearly event.

Write On!

2008-07-26T09:35:00.003-05:00

Writing is a passion! We are learning to write and write to learn.

The Agape Chapter of Inspirational Writers Alive meet in Groves this week. We heard a wonderful talk by Yvonne Sutherland, docent and researcher for the Port Arthur Historical Society. She shared many of her research techniques with us and some of her travel adventures.

Laurie, Debra and Melanie members of the Golden Triangle Writers Guild and I (behind the camera) meet once a month as a critique group. Other members were absent. We invite other writers to come and join us. Our goal is to become better writers.

Volunteering Gives Value to Life

2008-07-20T14:53:00.008-05:00

What a blessing to help a young mother-to-be pick out baby items and diapers in the baby boutique.

I've been blessed to teach a parenting class for the Pregnancy center. I use a doll to discuss post-partum depression and shaken baby sydrome.

I refer to my book ,"Adopting Darrell", when I talk about child abuse and the loving option of adoption.

In another class, I teach literacy in infancy and the importance of parents teaching their babies skills that will make reading fun and easily learned.

What a Week!

2008-07-12T17:42:00.006-05:00

Thursday was a great day! I signed with Keith Casy of Emunah Books, to publish my first novel, titled "Beneath the Surface". We are now working on the cover design.

This is the story of a stay-at-home wife and mother of two, facing her fortith birthday. Catherine Cruz is gripped by an overwhelming desire to escape her hum-drum life. She takes an RV road trip not expecting to be confronted with secrets and lies she had held beneath the surface of conciousness. Can't wait to see it in print!

Do we look like we're having fun!

Golden Triangle Writers Guild meet Tuesday July 8, at Barns & Noble. 30 published authors, writers with work in progress and wanna-be writers with great ideas met for a question and answer session led by DJ.

Come join us every month on the Second tuesday

July Fourth signings

2008-07-06T15:16:00.005-05:00

Wildwood Resort July Fourth Celebration was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and to sign books.

Grandma's Ultimate Road Trip; Texas to Alaska &

Journal; John F. Weishampel, 1858-1995

were big sellers.

A rousing parade of decorated golfcarts and bicycles, laughing kids and happy residents and guests with red white and blue balloons and streamers led the day. Drifting clouds and a breeze releaved the heat under tall pines.

Another Update

2008-07-01T18:27:00.002-05:00

My family was blessed by inheriting our great grandfather's journal that he kept during the Civil War. He was a book editor and publisher living with his family in Baltimore. His journal is a window into the past and provides insights into the struggle that could be gained in no other way.

updated site

2008-07-01T18:19:00.003-05:00

Grandmas' Ultimate Road Trip; Texas to Alaska.

I celebrated my 60th birthday by driving the AlCan (Alaskan Highway) to volunteer at a camp for the summer. The experience was so powerful that I returned the following year, and a third time. Join my grandson and I as we travel 13,000 miles, and experience Alaska with the natives.

Grandma's on the Go

2005-10-23T14:35:00.000-05:00

A single mom and her passel of kids hit the road with guts and gusto.

No one would begrudge this overloaded mother the right to stay put.

Yet, Carol Weishampel had an ironclad resolve to see the world--and take her motley brood with her.

A gutsy, determined Carol V. Weishampel combines her love for travel with parenting a passel of children as she progresses from primitive, tent camping to a series of motor homes--while providing a loving nest for her young charges.

Follow their adventures through 26 states, Canada, and Mexico as she and her kids dig for dinosaur bones, ride out storms, and explore God's creation. Under the tutelage of the resourceful Weishampel, even the inconveniences of flat tires and other roadside challenges become character builders for her fortunate young ones.

Grandma's on the Go is crammed with ideas, trip-planning tips, and other helps for the novice camper, experienced RVer, or armchair traveler.

You'll also be surprised by the ending. As the children begin leaving home and start having children of their own, Carol--now a grandmother--finds new meaning and purpose in what she learned on her earlier travels.

Be on the lookout for Grandma's third book, the sequel to Grandma's on the Go, Grandma's Ultimate Road Trip, Houston to Alaska, to be released July 1.

During her second adventure Weishampel journals her trip traveling with her grandson, Chris, through the Southwest, on the Inside passage ferry, and through Canada and the Yukon in her RV to volunteer for two months at a camp in Alaska.